page_title: Far East prisoners of war
section_title: FEPOW Memorial Church
hierarchical_section_title: Far East prisoners of war / FEPOW Memorial Church
caption_attribution_description: English: Wymondham Catholic Church and FEPOW memorial This church is a memorial to Far East Prisoners of War.
context_page_description: 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, or as the abbreviation Far East POWs.
context_section_description: Our Lady & St Thomas of Canterbury in Wymondham, Norfolk, England was completed in 1952 on the initiative of Father Malcolm Cowin - former Roman Catholic Chaplain to the 2nd Cambridgeshire Regiment and who himself had spent 3½ years in Japanese POW camps. The site and a fund to build the church had been provided by Irish labours and USAAF personnel in the area. While a prisoner he helped construct three chapels in different camps and determined that on his return to the UK he would build a church in memory of those who died in Japanese POW and internment camps.
  It serves as a parish church for the local Roman Catholic community as well as a focal point for the wider FEPOW community.  There is a FEPOW shrine and an annual FEPOW memorial service held on the nearest Sunday to 14 May the anniversary of the relief of Rangoon.
caption: Wymondham Catholic Church and FEPOW memorial
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