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Mukden Prisoner Of War Remembrance Society(MPOWRS) |
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Mukden POW Memorial Society was formed specifically to honor the courage and sacrifice of the men held at the Mukden (Hoten) POW camp in Shenyang, China. The men held at Mukden were mainly Americans and British with much smaller groups of Dutch and Australians. There were also a few New Zealanders and Canadians, who were fighting with the British forces. The first group of men to arrive at Mukden numbered about 1500 and came from 2 different areas. The 1200 Americans sent to Mukden were part of the force that had been responsible for delaying the fall of the Philippines and slowing down Japan’s timetables for conquest of the Pacific. Most of the men had survived the fighting on Bataan and Corregidor, living for months on 1/4 food rations, the Bataan Death March, nightmarish conditions in Philippine POW camps, and the Hell Ships. The men were never given enough food at Mukden to regain their vigor. The 300 British and Australians sent to Mukden were captured in the fall of Singapore on February 15, 1942. The Dutch had defended the Dutch East Indies but were quickly overrun by the Japanese and surrendered in March 1942. Many of their POWs were first sent to Singapore and then later moved to Taiwan, Japan, and Mukden. All these POWs arrived at the first Mukden camp in November 1942. They moved into the second camp at Mukden in August 1943. The cruel treatment that the POWs received there is typical of all the Japanese POW camps in Asia. The lack of food, medication and sanitation led to a 37.3% casualty rate among the thousands of POWs throughout all their camps. By preserving their true stories and making those stories available to all, we hope to allow current and future generations to see that might does not make right, and calculated self-interest is not sufficient to take over the world. Nothing will stop brave people from fighting valiantly to protect their homes, beliefs and honor against intruders.
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Home e-mail us at: info@mukdenpows.org |