Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society holds screening
The Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society, with assistance from the Taipei City Government Department of Cultural Affairs, will hold a commemoration to mark the 63rd anniversary of VJ Day — the day the Japanese surrendered to end World War II. Aug. 15 is also celebrated as FEPOW (Far East Prisoner of War) day in many places around the world. This is a day that remembers all prisoners of war — military and civilian — captured by the Japanese during World War II.
The event will take place on Sunday at the Taipei Film House, No. 18 Zhongshan N Road, Sec. 2. The program will feature a memorial tribute to FEPOWs, followed by a showing of the film War Story, which depicts the life of Canadian doctor Major Benjamin Wheeler and other prisoners of war at the Kinkaseki POW camp from 1942 to 1945 (the film is in English with no Chinese subtitles).
A collection of Taiwan POW and military artifacts will also be on display. Doors open at 12:30pm to give guests a chance to view the exhibit before the film commences. A question-and-answer session will follow the screening.
AIT staff give a little extra to Taipei
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) staff organized the institute’s first-ever employee-initiated blood drive on Thursday.
A Taipei Blood Center bus was stationed outside the AIT compound from 9:30am to 4:30pm and collected blood from about 60 volunteers.
“As a member of the community here in Taiwan, we are happy to sponsor this blood drive to help those who are in need of blood transfusions,” AIT Director Stephen Young said. “We also hope to encourage more people to become blood donors.”
Taipei’s blood inventory tends to drop during the summer and the city is critically low on type O and type A blood, the Taipei Blood Center said.
Information on where one can donate blood is available on the Taipei Blood Center Web site at www.tp.blood.org.tw. The center’s Donor Recruitment Department can also be reached at 2897-1600 ext. 6112 to 6117.
French national to receive award
A French national teaching at a college in Kaohsiung is to receive the Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Merite, one of the highest honors issued by the French government, for her work in helping French people in Taiwan over the last 10 years.
Agnes Roussel-Shih, a professor at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages, said she was surprised when she was recently informed of the honor.
“I simply did what I was supposed to do. Some people out there must have done a better job than I,” she said on July 24.
She will be one of just 38 French nationals around the world and the only French national in Taiwan to receive the honor this year.
Roussel-Shih, who is the college’s second teacher to be awarded the medal, serves as a volunteer worker for the French government in southern Taiwan.
The 39-year-old came to Taiwan in 1992 with her Taiwanese husband.
The French government also presents medals to promote cooperation between Taiwan and France in such fields as education, economics, culture, law, immigration and agriculture.
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