Source: Global Times

【Global Times Comprehensive Report】 Recently, the Japanese government officials' "avoidance" attitude towards the history of World War II has made Terry Smith, son of a British Far East prisoner of war, angry and disappointed. His father was captured by the Japanese army during World War II and suffered three years of torture.

According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post on April 4, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Fumio refused to attend the memorial ceremony held on September 2nd at the Commonwealth War Graves, which aims to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender and the thousands of Allied prisoners of war who regained their freedom. Terry, a researcher in the Department of History at the University of Essex in the UK, said that his father, Private Edwin Smith, was sent to work in the coal mine operated by Hayashi's family during the war and was tortured. Edwin witnessed many prisoners of war dying from overwork, and this experience left him with lifelong trauma.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Fumio (Visual China)

The report stated that Edwin served in an anti-aircraft unit under the Royal Artillery. In March 1942, after the Japanese occupied Java Island, he was captured. During his captivity, Edwin was infected with malaria, beriberi, dysentery, and dengue fever, and suffered from malnutrition. He was also beaten by Japanese guards with the butts of their guns, breaking his jaw. After being released in 1945, Edwin spent the rest of his life suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the nightmares it caused. Edwin's experience was representative of thousands of Allied Far East prisoners of war, "hunger, overwork, disease, and finally reduced to nothing but skin and bones," many of whom did not survive to see the day of victory.

"I feel sad, but not surprised," Terry said when talking about Hayashi's refusal. Such behavior is very impolite, and I don't think he or any other Japanese government official would lose anything by attending the memorial ceremony. He said that Japanese government officials have taken an unnecessary avoidance attitude towards the families of British Far East prisoners of war, and they should not be so sensitive to "criticism." Terry emphasized, "These people don't understand," most families of Far East prisoners of war need apologies and information about their loved ones, not economic compensation. In addition to Hayashi, former Prime Minister Asō Taro was also invited to attend this memorial event, but he did not respond. The report pointed out that Asō's family forced prisoners of war to work in southern Japan during World War II. (Li Xundian)

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7546372038982746678/

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