HANGZHOU, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) — A memorial devoted to Chinese fishermen who saved tons of of British prisoners of conflict (POWs) through the Lisbon Maru incident 82 years in the past was unveiled on the location of the rescue in east China’s Zhejiang Province on Thursday.
Designed and made by the China Academy of Art, the memorial captures the historic second when native fishermen in Zhoushan put their lives on the road to hold out the rescue.
The memorial measures 4.5 meters in size, 1.8 meters in peak and 1.7 meters in width. It weighs roughly 1 tonne and is manufactured from naval bronze.
On its left facet, inscriptions in each Chinese and English learn, “Memorial for Dongji Fishermen’s Rescue of British Prisoners of War,” and, “Love knows no boundary; Friendship transcends time,” alongside an in depth account of the occasion.
In October 1942, the Lisbon Maru, a cargo vessel requisitioned by the Japanese military to move greater than 1,800 British POWs from Hong Kong to Japan, was hit by a U.S. submarine off the Zhoushan Islands in China’s Zhejiang Province. Local fishermen risked their very own lives to rescue over 380 of those POWs.
“I hope more people learn about this chapter of history and remember those who made sacrifices for peace,” stated Wu Buwei, a descendant of one of many heroic fishermen.