EVENTS
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) National Commander Eubank and Adjutant General Gunner Kent visit Taiwan.
) VAC hosts Chinese New Year Dinner for Vets.
) Hell Ship Memorial Ceremony in Kaoushiung
) Events
) James (Post 727) and Kin Sun Wood hosts wedding of daughter Jessica
) Do you know your Presidents??
November 11, 12, 13, 2011
The
annual POW banquet was held at the Imperial Hotel in Taipei. Given the aging of
World War II veterans, only one former POW visited.
Friday,
Nov. 11th, was the dedication of the new Taihoku Camp #6 POW Memorial on the site of
the Ministry of National Defense Headquarters complex in DaZhi.
I
will try to post the information early enough in 2012 for you to make reservations.
Sunday,
Nov. 13th 10am: Remembrance Day Service at the POW Memorial Park at the site of the former
Kinaseki POW Camp in the village of Jinguashi near Jiufen featured a dedication ceremony
for the new Taiwan POW Memorial and Sculpture recently erected in the park.
March 28-29, 2011 VAC Dinner honoring VFW National Commander Eubank and Adjutant General Gunner Kent.
"Click" to enlarge photos.
VFW National Commander Eubank, Adj. Gen. Kent, VAC Director Hans Song, and troops on
Kenmen Island.
VFW National
Commander Eubank at CKS memorial, Taipei.
Bill
Wichmann*, VFW Cmdr. Eubank, Gunner Kent, and Bob Molinoski*
VFW
Cmdr. Eubank checks out his Birthday Cake as Gunner Kent and Jim Ascencio
(Post 9957 Commander) look on.
VAC Ministers and staff, and VFW guests.
Bob Molinoski*,
Orville Humfleet*, Cmdr. Eubank, and Gunner Kent
Cmdr. Eubank
receiving award from VAC Minister Tseng Jing-ling.
Gunner Kent, VAC
Minister Tseng Jing-ling, and Cmdr. Eubank
* VFW Post 727 members.
Our thanks to the VAC Ministers and their staff for hosting this affair!!!
Taiwan's Veterans Affairs Commission invited Taiwan's VFW post members to a Chinese New Year celebration party. Minister Tseng Jing-ling was our gracious host.
Photos from Feb. 15, 2011 party.
Post 727 Commander Orville Humfleet receiving New Year's greeting from Minister Tseng. Nice Civvi Class A's, Orville! We were expecting 'summer dress' khaki!
Comrade Bill Wichmann of Post 727 receiving New Year's greeting from Minister Tseng. Comrade Wichmann is our Judge Advocate. You know why sharks will not attacks lawyers?? Professional courtesy!
Comrade Robert Molinoski of Post 727 receiving New Year's greeting from Minister Tseng. Bob, I understand you kept the hatches battened down and learned how to eat civilian chow - not bad for a Jarhead!
Many thanks to Minister Tseng Jing-ling for hosting this event for Taiwan's International Veterans.
January 31, 2012, VAC Minister and Mrs. Tseng Jing-ling again hosted a dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year with the International Veteran community in Taiwan. And again, Many Thanks to the minister and his staff for hosting this event!
VFW 727 member Jim Wood celebrates the wedding of his daughter, Jessica, to T.J.
Jim and Kin Sun Wood with daughter, Jessica, and T.J! Congratulations from your comrades in Taiwan!
Jim, Kin Sun, and Jonathan Wood watch the ceremony with obvious pride.
I sincerely thank Michael for allowing me to publish his, which I have included in its entirety. The photos are courtesy of Michael Hurst and John Shively.
Orville Humfleet.
(Please visit the Taiwan POW - site link provided above.)
The Story of the Taiwan Hellships Memorial
During World War II – from early 1942 to the spring of 1945, the Japanese moved their prisoners of war by sea from the areas they had conquered – Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Java, and other places, and sent them to Japan, Taiwan, Burma, the Dutch East Indies and other areas to be used as slave labor.Tens of thousands of prisoners were transported on dozens of Japanese "hellships", and the conditions aboard these ships were horrendous. POWs were crowded into holds with no room to sit or lie down. They were starved and beaten and given very little water to drink. Disease was rampant and no medical care was given to the POWs. Many thousands perished from starvation, sickness, neglect and murder – or were killed when the unmarked ships were attacked by Allied forces.
Taiwan played a significant role in the story of the hellships. Being a Japanese colony and secure base, it served as a haven for many ships enroute to Japan as well as a prime destination for POWs being used as slave labour for the Japanese war effort. More than 4300 Allied POWs were brought to Taiwan by hellship to slave in the fifteen POW camps located on the island. Every POW who was on Taiwan came here by hellship, and many left the same way, later going Japan and Manchuria where they finished out the war. In total almost 26,000 POWs were transported to and from Taiwan ports during World War II.
* * * * * * *
Following the memorial service held in January 2005 by the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society to commemorate the bombing of the hellship Enoura Maru in Kaohsiung Harbour, it was suggested that a memorial be built to remember the men who were transported on the ships that came to the Taiwan ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung, and those who suffered and died on them.The location of the memorial within the boundaries of the new "War and Peace Park" at Chijin Beach, Kaohsiung Harbour, is especially significant as it lies just across the road from the site of the former mass grave where the men who died when the Enoura Maru was bombed were first buried. Later their remains were moved to the Punchbowl National War Cemetery in Hawaii.
* * * * * * *
January 26 was a special day for family members of two POWs who died on hellships. Retired Navy Captain Duane Heisinger and his wife along with William Cahill flew from the U.S. to attend the special dedication ceremony. Duane Heisinger’s father, Army Major Samuel L. Heisinger Jr. died on the Enoura Maru during the bombing in Kaohsiung Harbor and was buried in the mass grave. William Cahill’s father-in-law was on the Enoura Maru’s sister ship the Brazil Maru when the bombings occurred and died the day before the ship reached Japan.
Captain Duane Heisinger has written a book titled "Father Found", which tells of his search for his father. If anyone would like to purchase a copy of the book, you can check out Amazon.com.
Photos from the memorial dedication in 2006.
CDR Humfleet paying respects - 2011 (click to enlarge)
The Taiwan Hellships Memorial will serve as a permanent place of remembrance and tribute to the many POWs who died and also to those who survived the unparalleled atrocity of the hellships. We are pleased to have had a part on the design and construction of this beautiful POW memorial to the end that the men who suffered on the hellships will "never be forgotten".
Yours in Comradeship,Orville Humfleet
VFW Commander, District IV, Taiwan
Thank you Comrade Humfleet for sharing this and providing this years photos (2011) as well as those from the initial memorial dedication! Cmdr. Humfleet previously published this article in "Around the Pacific" shortly after his trip for the dedication of the memorial. Cmdr. Humfleet has placed flowers as a Honor Guard on the memorial every year since, maintaining a yearly honor within Post 727 for our Comrades world wide. A link to the site for the POW camps in Taiwan is provided within the article - I encourage you to read this history. It is hard today for us to remember that Taiwan was under Japanese rule of Japan for a number of years prior to the Pearl Harbor bombing.
Sorry!
MY
THANKS TO TODAYINHISTORY.COM AND
HISTORYPLACE.COM