Anti-Communist Hero () was the title given by the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

government in Taiwan to defectors from People's Republic of China during the Korean War and the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. The title was first given on 23 January 1954 to 14,000

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

from the

People's Volunteer Army The People's Volunteer Army (PVA) was the armed expeditionary forces deployed by the People's Republic of China during the Korean War. Although all units in the PVA were actually transferred from the People's Liberation Army under the order ...

who defected to Taiwan. Most of them were former Kuomintang soldiers taken captive by the communist forces during the Chinese Civil War. The defectors were tattooed with anti-communist slogans and the Taiwanese flag before coming to Taiwan.From Anti-Communist Martyrs to Illegal Immigrants: Taiwan as a State of Exception
Shu-Fen tin & Hsi-Ping Schive, National Chiao Tung University The memorial day

World Freedom Day The World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1952 as the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) under the initiative of Chiang Kai-sh ...

(一二三自由日) was founded in their honor. The title was later given to a number of PLAAF defectors who also surrendered their aircraft, providing valuable insight into PRC aircraft technology. Many of these defectors were given financial rewards. The title was abolished following the end of martial law in Taiwan and the thawing of cross-strait relations.

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