I am writing with information about a conference and news of a new memorial here in the UK which may be of interest to you and the members of the Japanese-pow listserv. I apologise for such a long email, would you be able to post the information below (under the heading: Far East POW Research News from the UK...) to the forum, please?

We very much hope that members of the listserv may wish to attend as we wish to forge much stronger links between British and American researchers in the future. Many of the delegates who have attended our previous conferences have, like myself, a personal interest in sharing what information we have and learning more about the camps in Japan, Formosa and Hong Kong.

I wonder if you would be kind enough to share the information below with your membership?

With reference to the Repatriation Memorial recently unveiled on Liverpool's waterfront, are you aware of any similar memorial in San Francisco? This is where my father and several thousand other British former POW arrived, en route back to Britain. Or perhaps there may be a memorial in Halifax NS or New York City, as these were the ports of departure for British repatriates to the UK on the final leg of their long journey home in the autumn of 1945? It would be good to inform our group if such memorials exist.

With many thanks and kind regards

Meg Parkes
on behalf of the Researching Far East POW History Group

The 4th international Far East POW history research conference will be held in Staffordshire in the UK close to the National Memorial Arboretum with its Far East POW Memorial Centre, on the 8-9 September 2012. The conferences are for both family historians and professional researchers/academics. The purpose is to share as widely as possible the range, depth and detail of research currently being undertaken and/or published. 

One of the headline speakers is Professor Emeritus Sears Eldredge from Minneapolis, who will be sharing both his extensive research on POW camp entertainments organised in camps on the Thailand-Burma railway and also his wider research into entertainments organised in camps right across the Far East. He has recently published an ebook based on the Thailand-Burma railway camps research.

As the majority of British Far East POW (some 30,000+ out of just over 50,000 in total captured) spent at least some, if not most of their captivity working in camps in Thailand and Burma railway, this area of research naturally interests a higher proportion of the delegates. However, at each conference we aim to cater for as wide an audience as possible.

In addition to sharing his research into camp entertainments both in Thailand Prof Eldredge will also share his research on entertainments organised across the Far East. We have Dr Rosalind Hearder from Australia speaking about Australian medical officers in camps across South East Asia and the Far East; and speakers discussing research into camps in Japan and the Dutch East Indies. We shall confirm all other speakers and a complete programme in the near future. For more details of the previous conferences staged visit the website.

A couple of weeks ago (15^th October 2011), there was an unveiling ceremony for a memorial at the Pier Head at Liverpool to acknowledge the disembarkation, between October 8 to December 10, 1945, of more than 20,000 servicemen and over a thousand civilian internees who survived captivity in Japanese Prisoner of War and Internment camps during the Second World War.

We thought of sending a copy to the Library of Congress but members may also like to suggest other organisations (with contact people). I have recently notified Wes Injerd and he has kindly circulated details to his contacts.

Meg Parkes
Chairperson
Researching Far East POW History Research Group