Kranji War Memorial

nearest_town=Kranji, Singapore
designer=
inscription=On the walls of this memorial are recorded the names of twenty-four thousand soldiers and airmen of many races united in service to the British crown who gave their lives in Malaya and neighbouring lands and seas and in the air over southern and eastern Asia and the Pacific but to whom the fortune of war denied the customary rites accorded to their comrades in death
THEY DIED FOR ALL FREE MENThe Kranji War Memorial (Chinese: 克兰芝阵亡战士纪念碑; Malay : "Tanah Perkuburan Perang Kranji") is located at 9 Woodlands Road, in Kranji in northern Singapore. Dedicated to the men and women from United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, Malaya, the Netherlands and New Zealand who died defending Singapore and Malaya against the invading Japanese forces during World War II, it comprises the War Graves, the Memorial Walls, the State Cemetery, and the Military Graves.

The War Memorial represents the three branches of the military - the Air Force, Army and Navy. The columns represent the Army, which marches in columns, the cover over the columns is shaped after of the wings of a plane, representing the Air Force, and the shape at the top resembles the periscope of a submarine, representing the Navy.

The Memorial's walls inscribe over 24,000 names of allied servicemen whose bodies were never found, spread over both sides of 12 columns of the war memorial itself.

The grounds of the memorial is set on a hilly terrain with views around the largely undeveloped landscape, although signs of urbanity and clearly visible further afield. The modern skyline of Johor Bahru in Malaysia is clearly visible. The grounds are immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and accessible only from Woodlands Road, the same road that the invading Japanese Imperial Guards had marched down on 9 February 1942.

Kranji War Cemetery

The War Cemetery is the final resting place for 4,458 allied servicemen in marked graves laid out in rows on maintained and manicured lawns. Over 850 of these graves are unidentified.

Towards the north end of the cemetery grounds is the State Cemetery and burial site of Inche Yusuf bin Ishak and Benjamin Henry Sheares, the first and second Presidents of Singapore. To the west are the Military Graves for Commonwealth soldiers who died during the Konfrontasi and Malayan Communist Insurgency periods. 69 Chinese servicemen who served as members of the Commonwealth forces and who were killed by the Japanese in February 1942 were buried at the Chinese Memorial. There are also 64 burials for World War I, including special memorials for three men who were buried in civil cemeteries in Singapore and Saigon, and whose graves were impossible to locate till this day. Some of Singapore's late presidents are also buried here.

Originally a hospital burial ground during the Japanese Occupation period, it became a military cemetery at the end of the war. Military servicemen buried elsewhere in Singapore were exhumed and reburied at the memorial.

ee also

*The Cenotaph, Singapore
*Civilian War Memorial

External links

* [http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/what_to_see/world_war_ii_sites/kranji_war_memorial.html Tourism board information]
*Peter Chou's PBase Gallery [http://www.pbase.com/kepha/kranji/ Kranji War Memorial]