A headstone with an inscription in English believed to date to World War II that recently went missing from a graveyard in Taipei has been retrieved and temporarily listed as a historical relic, the Taipei City Government said on Tuesday.
The headstone, discovered during a burial site relocation project in Xinyi District (信義), had been reported to police as missing by Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chia-pei (許家蓓).
Police tracked down the headstone and returned it to the site, where it was on Monday analyzed by experts from the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs.
Photo courtesy of Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chia-pei’s office
The department’s Cultural Heritage Division said that the headstone, which had been retrieved from an unidentified individual, was temporarily stored at a local police station.
The city government said that by temporarily listing the headstone as a historical relic, it would be possible to pursue legal action if it was taken again.
The headstone was discovered in March after the city government was to begin relocating 30 graves in hills near Fude Street on Jan. 28, as part of a road expansion project.
After the city government ordered the graves to be relocated by April 30, visitors discovered an inscription in English on one of the headstones thought to read either “Clack, Eric Arthur,” or “Clack, Erec Arthur,” indicating that the person passed away on Aug. 25, 1945.
Pictures of the headstone were on March 31 posted on the Facebook page of Taiwan Ancient Tomb Detectives, a group of local cemetery enthusiasts, alongside another two stones that were too badly weathered to make out names or dates of death.
Members of the group speculated that the headstones might date to World War II, with military historian Chang Wei-bin (張維斌) on Sunday saying that they could mark the graves of British soldiers who had been captured and sent to Taiwan, which was then a Japanese colony, as prisoners of war.
However, cultural heritage conservationist Hsiao Wen-chieh (蕭文杰) said that as cement was valuable during the war, it was unlikely to be used to make headstones for prisoners of war, unless they were Allied soldiers who died near the end of the war.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS