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Very interesting site and wonderful photos. My father (Lt. Cdr John Collier Gransden, (R.N., M.R.N.V.R.) was a POW at Shirakawa, Formosa. He went out to Singapore in 1932 to join the Borneo Company, was in Malayan Naval Voluntary Reserve and joined Royal Navy at beginning of the war. I am trying to trace what happened to him after the Fall of Singapore. I know he was on HMS Dragonfly in March 1941 from a letter he wrote to my mother. I also know that he escaped from Singapore in Feb 1942 to Sumatra possibly either on the Dragonfly or Grasshopper. He was on SS Ban Ho Guan en route from Sumatra to W. Australia when she was sunk by Japanese on 28 Feb 1942. He spent 3 years as a POW in Formosa and in 1945 was released by the Americans and taken to the U.S. (San Francisco),entrained across the States to New York where he boarded the Queen Elizabeth back to England. After the war, he returned to his old job at the Borneo Company Singapore and remained living and working in the Far East until his retirement in 1964. If anyone has any information to help me fill in the gaps of his life between 1942 and 1945, I would be grateful.

great information here, its good to read about and remember people who have been pretty much forgotten, Formosa doesnt appear much in the history of WWII. Im living in Taiwan right now and im taking a trip to the country soon, if im near any of these Japanese sites i will pay my respects, as a Brit i feel an emotional bond to these brave men.

Excellent photos - thank for posting them and of course to your father for taking them!

Very interesting site.

I am only now finding all these amazing photographs of a period im my father's life. he was George Lawson. Gunner. 80th Anti tank Regiment. He was taken to USS Block Island, to Manila then on USS W.C Langfitt. any info would be appreciated. Thank You