[Source: NAA - National Archives of Australia, click to enlarge]
Our friend in Australia Sophie pointed us to documents long buried within the NAA. Here is one example, the record of one Taiwanese baby interned in Tatura, Victoria:
地區 (District): Dutch East Indies荷屬東印度 [按note: when the Pacific War broke out, Japanese and Taiwanese residents of DEI were shipped to Australia and interne there太平洋戰爭爆發時,此地一部份日本人及臺灣人被送往澳洲集中營拘禁]
姓名 (Name): SAI Ho Tjioe [原名不詳 Chinese name unknown]
生日 (DOB): 22/7/1942
被俘地 (Place of capture): Tatura, Victoria [按: 位於維多利亞省北部]
出生地 (Place of birth): Tatura
宗教 (Religion): 儒教 (Confucist)
國籍 (Nationality): 原登記為originally "Aust. Born Jap Parents", 刪改為changed to "Formosan"
生母 (Mother): SAI Loei Sian Twe [原名不詳]
生母住址 (Mother's address): Tatura 集中營第四營 (Tatura Camp No 4)
報告 (Report):
特徴 (Characteristics): 黑髪棕眼 [性別不詳] (Black hair brown eyes)
17/8/1942 入營 (Date interned)
6/3/1946 自雪梨港乘宵月艦遣回臺灣 (Repatriated on Yoizuki from Sydney Harbor to Formosa)
Internee SAI Ho Tjioe, the not-even-4-year-old Yoizuki hell-ship passenger, should be 69 years old by now.
"生日 (DOB): 22/7/1942
回覆刪除被俘地 (Place of capture): Tatura, Victoria [按: 位於維多利亞省北部]
出生地 (Place of birth): Tatura
宗教 (Religion): 儒教 (Confucist)
國籍 (Nationality): 原登記為originally "Aust. Born Jap Parents", 刪改為changed to "Formosan"
生母 (Mother): SAI Loei Sian Twe [原名不詳]
生母住址 (Mother's address): Tatura 集中營第四營 (Tatura Camp No 4)
報告 (Report):
特徴 (Characteristics): 黑髪棕眼 [性別不詳] (Black hair brown eyes)
17/8/1942 入營 (Date interned)
6/3/1946 自雪梨港乘宵月艦遣回臺灣 (Repatriated on Yoizuki from Sydney Harbor to Formosa)"
Something (things) seems to be missing here:
1. Date interned: 17/8/1942. But the Dutch East Indies were captured by the Japanese in March 1941.
2. Date interned: 17/8/1942. This kid was born July 7, 1942. Was she hiding out or something.
3. "Place of capture): Tatura, Victoria..." Huh?
4. "(Repatriated on Yoizuki from Sydney Harbor to Formosa)." To what port? What's her name? Where is she now?
5. "特徴 (Characteristics): 黑髪棕眼 [性別不詳] (Black hair brown eyes)." This is what I tell my friends in Formosa. You don't have black eyes in English. We say they're brown. I guess that's what they were saying a couple of generations ago as well.
Hi Patrick,
回覆刪除The kid (gender unknown) was born in the POW camp, hence he/she was captured, technically. The recording was done using a form designed for adults. No record of the port of destination in Taiwan, most likely Keelung. The port during transit was Rabaul.
You are correct about the Japanese capture of DEI. However, missing from history is the Southern Advance policy of the Japan Empire which encouraged Japanese emigration to SE Asia. The Taiwanese were part of this migration starting in the 1920s. By the time the Pacific War broke out, there was already a sizable Taiwanese (not to mention the Japanese) community in DEI, New Caledonia, and Indonesia, respectively. For some still unknown reason, some families from DEI and NC were selected and sent to the POW camps in Australia - interned at camp No 4 in Tatura, Victoria. Many babies were born "in captivity" and repatriated together with their parents on March 6, 1946 on board the Yoizuki.
It was a surprise for me as well when I was informed upon first arriving in the US that my eyes were brown. I have accepted it because physiologically speaking, the irides do contain melanin, which is brown.
回覆刪除In real sense the Cower POW escape is not escape for freedom like the Great Escape, Stalag Luft III escape. They dug a tunnel reaching the other side of fence and sneak out in dark night. In the other hand, those Japanese officers and soldiers had exposed themselves in front of the machine guns and run over the fence and get themselves killed. “They were looking for a place to die with honor,” one of the survivor recalled. As the result, more than half of the escapees were killed by machine guns in the spot.
回覆刪除ChoSan
Hi Chosan,
回覆刪除Thanks for adding more.
The first Japanese POW, a Zero pilot, had used a fake name when captured - so that his commanders and family would assume that he had died in combat. I believe he led the charge at the machine gun and was severely wounded. He later died without revealing his true identity.
I might point out also that the Taiwanese POWs interned at the same camp were identified as "captured at combat". These were true soldiers not the few prison guards often recalled, in books, by British POWs.
>..the Japan Empire which encouraged Japanese emigration to SE Asia. The Taiwanese were part of this migration starting in the 1920s.
回覆刪除One of my father's distant cousins went to Malay around 1920s or earlier, now his offspring are
Singaporean. Family members are pleased with their choice, I think.
fykuo
Hi FY,
回覆刪除They must have somehow escaped the anti-Japanese sentiment during and after the war years, not an easy thing to do. It is interesting to note that they had followed the 南進政策 instead of migrating to Manchuria as some Taiwanese had done.