An event in Taipei on Saturday next week aims to commemorate the executions of 14 US airmen at the old Taipei Prison near the end of World War II, the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society said yesterday.
The slain were pilots and crew members from US military aircraft that had been shot down while attacking Japanese ships and airfields in Taiwan during WWII, it said.
They were tried by a Japanese military tribunal in Taipei on May 29, 1945, on charges of “indiscriminate bombing” and killing civilians.
Not provided legal defense, they were found guilty and sentenced to death, the group said.
It added that the executions were carried out by a Japanese firing squad at 6:15am on June 19, 1945, inside the old Taipei Prison, adding that the men ranged in age from 19 to 24.
The executions were “needless” because they happened just 57 days before the war ended, the society said.
“It was a needless killing, as the Japanese knew they were losing the war and the men could have been held for just a few more weeks and then set free. It was a great travesty of justice and prisoner of war treatment,” it said in a statement, adding that the Japanese who perpetrated the act were arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The group said that it became aware of the story in 2000 through a US citizen named Charles Parker, whose brother was one of the men executed.
In 2005, the society commemorated the event with a memorial service near the former prison wall, which is next to a Chunghwa Telecom building near the intersection of Jinshan S Road and Xinyi Road.
A memorial plaque was placed on the wall in 2009 by the society and the family members of the executed airmen.
As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the event, the organization said it would host a ceremony again at the site beginning at 11am on Saturday next week.
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