In 2011 it was announced on the Taiwan POW Society website that photos of the graves of the former Taiwan POWs who are buried at Sai Wan War Cemetery in Hong Kong were available from the Society - FREE of CHARGE. At the same time it was mentioned that photos of other war graves in the cemeteries in Hong Kong were available from Tony Banham, and that the Thai-Burma Railway Centre (TBRC) in Thailand would also pass on photos from the cemeteries at Kanchanaburi and Chungkai in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma - all at no cost as well.
Another member living in Asia - Tony Buckley, who has photographed literally tens of thousands of war graves and names on memorials throughout the region, joined with us and on July 1, 2012 we launched the ASIA WAR GRAVES PHOTO GROUP (AWGPG).
The purpose of the group was to distribute good quality photos of war graves and names on the various memorials from the war cemeteries located all across Asia - FREE OF CHARGE - to POWs and veterans, family members, relatives, researchers and historians – with the sole aim of keeping the memory of the veterans and POWs alive, so that present and future generations would not forget the sacrifices they made so far from home. We wanted to help ensure that they are not forgotten.
Our principal mission in joining together was to provide free war grave photos to those in need of them, as we all strongly object to people and organizations who charge veterans and their families for photos of their loved one's grave just because they are unable to travel to the cemeteries to obtain photos themselves. It is for that very reason that we wanted to provide such photos free of charge – in honour and respect for those veterans.
Most of the families, relatives and friends of the Far East veterans and prisoners of war will never get a chance to visit the graves of those who died in Asia due to the distance and the expense involved. It was hoped that by providing these photos, we would be able to bring some closure in many peoples' lives by supplying them with a photo of the final resting place of their loved one.
Recently, after 4 1/2 wonderful years working together as a team, we have decided that since Tony Buckley has all of the photos from all of the cemeteries and memorials across Asia, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication he would take over the project and set up a dedicated website to provide all Asian war grave photos and we would support him in this important mission. So effective January 1st 2017 the ASIA WAR GRAVES website was launched as – http://www.asiawargraves.com/ . We encourage anyone who needs photos of veterans' graves and memorials in Asia to contact Tony and he will be happy to supply what you need – FREE OF CHARGE!
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The Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society also has photos of every former Taiwan POW's grave worldwide. We have grave photos of all the British, Australian and Dutch POWs who were previously interred in the former Taiwan camp cemeteries and later re-buried at the Sai Wan War Cemetery in Hong Kong,
In addition, all the grave photos of the American POWs who died in Taiwan and are buried and commemorated in the Manila American Cemetery, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at the Punchbowl in Honolulu, Hawaii, and National VA Cemeteries and private sites in the USA, are available from the Society.
Also, in many cases if you contact the Society directly for a photo, we can supply more detailed information about a POW if requested.
The Thai-Burma Railway Centre - email to - admin (at) tbrconline.com, and Tony Banham - Hong Kong War Diary - email to - tony (at) hongkongwardiary.com, will still continue to offer free photos to those who write to them requesting information about a POW. We are all here to serve in whatever way we can in this regard.
Note: Copyright is retained by the photographer and the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. By requesting a free photograph you agree that the photograph will be for your personal use only - it may be passed on to others free of charge as well, but it must not under any circumstances be sold.
"AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING,
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM! "
Please help us to spread the word about Asia War Graves around the FEPOW Community and we hope that many will avail themselves of our FREE services as well.