A wooden plaque inscribed with Chinese characters reading "The spirits of the Republic of China officers and soldiers killed" was installed at the Martyrs' Shrine in Taipei on August 27 as a military band played solemn music.

The plaque symbolises the souls of more than 56,000 soldiers who died in a series of bloody battles against the Imperial Japanese Army in Myanmar, said the defence ministry.

"This is a special touching moment as we observe the 77th anniversary of war against Japan," said Chen Chen-hsaing, a general-turned-legislator who had been pressing for the belated memorial event.

"We've never forgot them even though this should have been done a long time ago and (was) postponed by the civil war," he said.

China's ruling Nationalist government fled to Taiwan after being defeated by the communists in the civil war which ended in 1949.
 
"Now they come home after so many years," said Chen, in part blaming a lack of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Myanmar for the delay.

While more than 400,000 fallen soldiers from various wars have been enshrined in Taiwan, the ceremony was the first to mark those killed in Myanmar since World War II.

At that time China was still ruled by the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek. Their war with Japan began in 1937 and ended with Japan's surrender at the end of World War II in 1945.

Some of the soldiers memorialised on August 27 lost their lives in a 1942 battle at Yenangyaung, when General Sun Li-jen and his unit came to the rescue of about 7,000 British troops surrounded by the Japanese army.

Sun was later made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.