The Kranji War Memorial (
Chinese: 克兰芝阵亡战士公坟; ms, Tanah Perkuburan Perang Kranji; ta, கிராஞ்சி போர் நினைவு) is located at 9 Woodlands Road, in
Kranji in northern
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
. Dedicated to the men and women from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
,
Malaya, the
Netherlands
)
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, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
who died defending Singapore and Malaya against the invading Japanese forces during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, it comprises the
War Graves
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
, the Memorial Walls, the State Cemetery, and the Military Graves.
Overview
The War Memorial represents the three branches of the military - the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
,
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
and
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
. 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
sail
A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails ma ...
of a submarine, representing the Navy.
The Memorial's walls inscribe over 24,000 names of allied personnel whose bodies were never found, spread over both sides of 12 columns of the war memorial itself. On the Kranji War Memorial the names of 191 Canadian airmen are inscribed.
The grounds of the memorial is set on a hilly terrain. The grounds are maintained by the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...
, and accessible only from Woodlands Road, the same road that the
Imperial Guards Division of the
Japanese 25th Army had marched down on 9 February 1942.
Kranji War Memorial and Cemetery has been included into the photographic archive by the War Graves Photographic Project in association with the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...
. Each individual grave has been recorded together with each and every column on the memorials.
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, where
Yusof bin Ishak and
Benjamin Henry Sheares, the first and second
presidents of Singapore
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
, are buried. To the west are the Military Graves for
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
soldiers who died during the
Konfrontasi and
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces ...
. 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
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, including special memorials for three men who were buried in civil cemeteries in Singapore and
Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
, and whose graves were impossible to locate until this day.
Previously a hospital burial ground during the
Japanese occupation of Singapore
, officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II.
Japanese military forces occupied it afte ...
, it became a military cemetery at the end of the war. Military servicemen buried elsewhere in Singapore were exhumed and reburied at the memorial. The names of Indian servicemen were inscribed on the memorial walls as they had already been cremated, as is
customary in
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
.
Gallery
File:Kranji War Memorial 03.jpg, The Kranji War Memorial during the Remembrance Day Ceremony proceedings on 13 November 2005
File:Kranji War Memorial Cross.jpg, Kranji War Memorial Cross
File:Kranji War Memorial Inscription.jpg, Kranji War Memorial inscription
File:Kranji War Memorial 02.jpg, Kranji War Memorial Cross of Sacrifice
The Cross of Sacrifice is a Commonwealth war memorial designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). It is present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or m ...
File:Inscription on the Kranji War Memorial.jpg, The inscription on the Kranji War Memorial
File:Kranji War Memorial 01.jpg, The Catafalque Party mounted by the Singapore Armed Forces Military Police at the Kranji War Memorial during Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in ...
See also
*
The Cenotaph, Singapore
*
Former Indian National Army Monument
*
Civilian War Memorial
References
External links
Tourism board information* Peter Chou's PBase Galler
Kranji War Memorial*
*
{{Major Tourist Attractions in Singapore
1946 establishments in Singapore
Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials
World War II memorials
Kranji
Monuments and memorials in Singapore