Penny Grant
We had a brief chat about this at the COFEPOW weekend at Torquay last October. My late father, Lt B W Aldwell was a FEPOW in Ofuna, a Navel Interrogation cam not registered with the Red Cross. I won’t go into the details but the guard who beat my father was indicted and jailed by the War crimes commission.
As another correspondent says, “ forgiveness is not ours to give, those who could have done it are all dead. “ A sentiment I agree with.
We are the generation after the war and grew up under the shadow of our father’s lived experience, in many cases have strong feelings about how our fathers were treated and the affects of this on our own lives.
If members feel the need for individual reconciliation that’s up to them, but you need to think carefully before you take COFEPOW down this route.