Far East Prisoners of War

Far East prisoners of war is a term used in the United Kingdom to describe former British and Commonwealth prisoners of war held in the Far East during the Second World War. The term is also used as the initialism FEPOW (spelled out when said, not pronounced as a word), or as the abbreviation Far East POWs.

Its adoption by various independent voluntary organisations providing support to this specific community of former POWs is an implicit indictment of the perceived lack of UK government support for this community, criticism partly deflected by a UK government compensation scheme introduced in 2000.

Since 2000, following a campaign led by the Royal British Legion, former Far East POWs are eligible for UK Government compensation for their suffering in POW and internment camps operated by the Japanese during the War.

Compensation may be payable to any member of all British Groups imprisoned by the Japanese in the Second World War. It is therefore available to British civilians and merchant seamen as well as members of British and Commonwealth forces. An amendment of the scheme in 2002 extended compensation to former Gurkha soldiers.

An application may be made by either a former POW or their family or estate. A successful FEPOW applicant is entitled to an ex gratia payment of £10,000. The scheme is currently administered by the Veterans Agency.

The National Federation of Far East Prisoner of War Clubs and Associations (NFFCA) acts as an umbrella organisation for over 60 autonomous FEPOW Clubs and Associations in the UK.

The FEPOW Community has been set up to research loved ones who suffered under Japanese captivity during World War II. It does incorporate a free group, with its members helping each other in research. The Roll-of-Honour (Roll of Honour) has every death of service personnel and civilians mentioned in the site, most having a page of their own. The Far Eastern Heroes (Far Eastern Heroes) covers stories from the FEPOWs themselves, with a special page which promotes FEPOW Day as 15 August, the day Japan surrendered.

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