ARTICLES & STORIES

A MAN SENT FROM GOD

     This is the story of a true hero of World War II - the Canadian doctor Major Ben Wheeler, who gave himself to help his fellow prisoners of war in the infamous 'Kinkaseki' Japanese prisoner of war camp on the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa).

     Here is what Sgt. Thomas O'Toole of the British Army said about  Ben Wheeler in a letter he wrote after the war, "Now that the world knows of the murders, atrocities and hardships suffered by the POWs in Japanese prison camps, I consider it my...

THE WALL - A VERY SPECIAL PLACE!

The Taiwan POW Memorial Wall in the Taiwan Prisoner of War Memorial Park

Address given by Society Director Michael Hurst MBE at the Remembrance Day Service - November 15th 2015

     Time marches on! It has been 70 years now since the end of World War II and 18 years since we first built and dedicated the Taiwan POW Memorial here in the park. It was just a simple place back then with many trees and walkways and flowers. In the ensuing years it has been changed into the beautiful park you see here today with...

OTHER COMMONWEALTH PRISONERS OF WAR IN TAIWAN. . .

The story of the three Canadian and two New Zealand prisoners of war in Taiwan during World War II.

     The Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society wants to ensure that the memory of all the former Taiwan POWs - including those from the other Commonwealth countries of Canada, New Zealand and South Africa are remembered, as well as those from the countries that had the majority of POWs on Taiwan.

     In addition to the British, American, Dutch and Australian POWs who made up most of the prisoners held by the Japanese on the...

LIFE AS A PRISONER

Conditions in the Kinkaseki Camp...

..." the food was never enough - the meager rice ration was supplemented at morning and night by about ½ pint of watery vegetable soup. . . we only had two thin blankets and had to sleep on wooden boards with only about 1 ½ feet of space per man... at every conceivable opportunity the guards would find an excuse to hit us.

. . .we were screamed at, shouted at, slapped, kicked and bashed. . . for the slightest infringement (of the rules) anyone could be sentenced to the...

THE REST OF THE STORY. . .

by Michael Hurst - from the Winter 2001 newsletter

     Early in December 2001, I read an article in an American POW newsletter by historian Greg Michno, who had written a soon to be published book on the subject of the hellships, called 'Death on the Hellships'. Greg had somehow obtained official Japanese records and decrypts of sailing rosters and orders for all of the convoys and ships carrying POWs. He also had captured records and documents, plus offical US Navy records showing ships sunk, places and dates. His research is exhausting, and he finally corrects...