The Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society held a Remembrance Day service at a memorial park on the site of the former Kinkaseki copper mine on the northeast coast of Taiwan on Sunday for prisoners of war who suffered at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.
While there was a shared sense of sadness at the marked absence of any former POWs at the POW Memorial Park in Jinguashih (金瓜石) — inaugurated in 1997 near Jiufen (九份), Taipei County — there was also a feeling that one of the founding objectives of the society was being honored by the presence of relatives of some of the POWs, many of whom traveled to Taiwan for the first time to pay their respects to their loved ones at the site of the Kinkaseki camp.
More than 1,000 allied soldiers, sailors and airmen were forced to work as laborers at the camp, which was the most infamous of the 16 Japanese POW camps in Taiwan during World War II.
Society director Michael Hurst said Kinkaseki was one of the worst prison camps in the entire Far East in terms of the conditions and treatment the prisoners received.
Wilf Robinson arrived for his first visit to Taiwan from Australia a week earlier to find out more about his uncle, British soldier William Carson.
After just three months in Kinkaseki, Carson was so ill he had to be moved to another camp in the south of Taiwan, where he died aged 32 when an allied bombardment mistakenly hit the camp.
After seeing the mine, prison and museum, Robinson said he felt an affinity not just with his uncle, but with all the POWs.
“These people are left and lost ... and not remembered, now I feel that I have arrived here to take William Carson back home. It is important to me and my family,” Robinson said.
Eileen Astley, who arrived from England on a first-time visit with her daughter, Lin Mount, and son, Mike Farmer, was married to Jack Farmer, a former British inmate at Kinkaseki.
Astley said Farmer didn’t tell her he had been a POW until right before they were married. Despite a disfigured leg due to copper poisoning in the mine, the family said he never spoke of his experiences in Kinkaseki.
After seeing the mine, Mount said she was struck by the sheer distance the men had to travel just get up and down the hillside before even going down into the mine.
“It’s very powerful to finally see it,” Mount said.
Art Scholl, a member of the US Veterans of Foreign Wars, attended the memorial for the seventh time and was asked to lay a wreath on behalf of the POWs, as he was the only veteran attending who had witnessed military action in the Pacific.
A visibly emotional Scholl recalled how the ship he served on in the US Navy was attacked by a kamikaze pilot in May 1945.
This year’s service was cosponsored by the Australian Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei, which alternates with the three other Commonwealth representative offices to hold the memorial service.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their