Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society founder Michael Hurst on Sunday called for a remembrance of history to ensure peace at the annual event to honor 14 United States pilots executed by Japan in Taiwan during World War II.
"The Taiwan people I know are peace-loving and we don't want any trouble. Unfortunately, we're in kind of a bad situation right now," said Hurst, a Canadian who resides in Taiwan.
The 14 executed airmen, who either served in the U.S. Air Force or the Navy, were captured in Taiwan after being shot down by the Japanese military while conducting air raids from Oct. 1944 to May 1945 around the then-Japan-governed island.
On June 19, 1945, less than two months before Japan surrendered in WWII, the 14 pilots were rounded up in the Taihoku Prison in Taipei and executed.
Only 11 other pilots held at the prison survived the war and were able to return to the U.S.
"Most of them were between 19 to 24," Hurst said. "They were just young men who
were just doing their duty for their country and just helping to win the war."
Alongside attendees such as representatives from Taiwan's Cabinet-level Veterans Affairs Council and also the Flying Tigers Post 9957, a Taiwan charter for veterans of foreign wars of the U.S., the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society gathered at the former site of the Taihoku Prison in Taipei's Da'an District to pay their respects and honor the 14 fallen airmen.
Speaking with CNA, Hurst implored the general public to value peace, saying:
Remember the sacrifices of the previous war; and hopefully, in doing that, try to ensure some peace so that these kind of tragedies don't happen again.
Echoing Hurst's observation, Veterans Affairs Council official Wang Kai-heng (王凱珩) said history is like a mirror that reflects the rise and fall of generations so that the world may learn from past mistakes, which are things that could be forgiven but not forgotten.
