The San Cha Mountain 三叉山 Incident of 1945 – Taiwan Marks 80 Years Since Double Tragedy [S5 Reedited Encore]

Imagine you’re an Allied soldier in the Pacific during WWII.
You’re captured by the Japanese, survive brutal conditions as a
POW, and the dangerous voyage in a “hell ship” to Japan, where
you endure more years of captivity. Finally, in August 1945, the
war ends. You’re freed, ready to go home. But there will be no
happy ending.





Some transport planes and ships never make their destination,
including a B-24 carrying 20 former POWs, which crashes
into a 3,496-meter peak in Taiwan’s southern Central
Mountain Range during a typhoon. Compounding the sadness, 26
members of a team made up of Japanese, Taiwanese, and Indigenous
people die in a rescue/retrieval attempt.





This once little-known story was featured in Season Two
of Formosa Files. In 2025, however – the
80th anniversary – many news organizations featured stories
marking the event. Taiwan President Lai offered a moving tribute
in a Facebook post, which in part read, “Eighty years ago, a
group of people, without regard to nationality, blood, or side in
the war, risked their lives to save others.”








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