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SofS attends WWII commemorations at Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore

Published Wednesday 8th June 2005

John Reid laying a wreath at Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore, 5 June 2005

John Reid and the Hon Mark Burton, New Zealand Defence Minister, during a wreath-laying ceremony at Kranji War Cemetery, 5 June 2005

John Reid meeting Mr Jeyathurai, Director of Changi Museum/Singapore History Consultants 5 June 2005

John Reid with Mr Ling, the manager of Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore, 5 June 2005

The Rt Hon Dr John Reid MP, the recently appointed Secretary of State for Defence, visited Singapore on the weekend of 4th June 2005. Dr Reid was in Singapore to attend the Shangri La Dialogue (the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Asia Security Conference) and to attend an informal meeting of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) Ministers, both of which demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the region.

During the visit, Dr Reid laid a wreath of remembrance at Kranji War Cemetery in his capacity as Chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The Minister was accompanied by the Hon Mark Burton MP, Minister of Defence for New Zealand, the British High Commissioner, HE Mr Alan Collins CMG, the New Zealand High Commissioner, HE Dr Richard Grant, the UK Defence Adviser, Group Captain Martin Stringer and the New Zealand Defence Adviser, Colonel Martin Dransfield. Also in attendance at the ceremony was Col John Morrice, President of the Singapore Armed Forces Veterans’ League and Mr Roy Muthiah, President of the Ex-Services’ Association of Singapore.

Dr Reid was in Singapore to attend the Shangri La Dialogue (the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Asia Security Conference) and to attend an informal meeting of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) Ministers, both of which demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the region.

At the ceremony, Group Captain Stringer gave the following speech:

"Our presence at Kranji War Cemetery today marks a visit by the Rt Hon Dr John Reid MP, Chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom, and the Hon Mark Burton MP, Minister of Defence for New Zealand. It also marks the year in which we commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Ending of the War in SE Asia, which took place 60 yrs ago on 12 September 1945 in Singapore, when Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander (South East Asia) accepted the surrender of 680,000 Japanese soldiers in South East Asia.

"From its inception 88 years ago on 21 May 1917, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has worked hard to provide fit provision for the commemoration of all those Commonwealth servicemen and women who died during the 2 World Wars. There are Commonwealth war graves in 2,500 war cemeteries in 148 countries, and the Commission is responsible for 1.7 million commemorations. Over 900,000 are commemorated on headstones and the remainder who have no known grave are commemorated on memorials

"Kranji War Cemetery overlooks the scene of the Japanese landings in 1942 and was originally a small cemetery attached to the hospital at the nearby prisoner of war camp. There are 4500 graves in the War Cemetery, of which 850 are unidentified, and over 1400 in the Military Cemetery. In addition, there are over 24,000 members of the Commonwealth forces, who have no known grave, commemorated on the Memorial in front of us. Most of those commemorated or buried here will have died during the campaigns in Malaya and Indonesia, or in subsequent captivity, many of them during the construction of the Burma/Thailand railway or at sea whilst being transported into imprisonment elsewhere. The Memorial also commemorates airmen who died either during operations in South East Asia or as prisoners of war.

"The bugler will now sound the Last Post – it will be followed by a minute’s silence and Reveille after which I shall invite the Rt Hon Dr John Reid MP, Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom, followed by the Hon Mark Burton MP, Minister of Defence for New Zealand to lay wreathes in honour of all those who gave so much."

KRANJI WAR CEMETERY (64 First World War burials; 4,458 Second World War burials, 850 of which are unidentified)

Before 1939, Kranji was a military camp, and at the time of the Japanese invasion, it was the site of a large ammunition magazine. After the fall of the island, the Japanese established a prisoner of war camp at Kranji and eventually a hospital was organised nearby at Woodlands.

After the reoccupation of Singapore at the end of the war, the small cemetery started by the prisoners at Kranji was developed into a permanent war cemetery by the Army Graves Service when it became evident that a larger cemetery at Changi could not remain undisturbed. Changi had been the site of the main prisoner of war camp in Singapore and a large hospital had been set up there by the Australian Infantry Force. In 1946, the graves were moved from Changi to Kranji, as were those from the Buona Vista prisoner of war camp. Many other graves from all parts of the island were then transferred to Kranji, together with all Second World War burials from Saigon Military Cemetery in French Indo-China (now Vietnam),.and graves of both world wars from Bidadari Christian Cemetery, Singapore, sites where permanent maintenance was not possible.

The Chinese Memorial in Plot 44 marks a collective grave for 69 Chinese servicemen, all members of the Commonwealth forces, who were killed during the occupation in February 1942.

SINGAPORE MEMORIAL

The memorial stands within Kranji War Cemetery and bears the names of over 24,000 Second World War casualties of the Commonwealth land and air forces who have no known grave. The land forces commemorated by the memorial died during the campaigns in Malaya and Indonesia or in subsequent captivity, many of them during the construction of the Burma-Thailand railway, or at sea while being transported into imprisonment elsewhere. The memorial also commemorates airmen who died during operations over the whole of southern and eastern Asia and the surrounding seas and oceans.

The SINGAPORE (UNMAINTAINABLE GRAVES) MEMORIAL, which stands at the western end of the Singapore Memorial, commemorates more than 250 casualties who died in campaigns in Singapore and Malaya, whose known graves in civil cemeteries could not be assured maintenance and on religious grounds could not be moved to a war cemetery.

The SINGAPORE CREMATION MEMORIAL, which stands immediately behind the Singapore Memorial, commemorates almost 800 casualties, mostly of the Indian forces, whose remains were cremated in accordance with their religious beliefs.

The SINGAPORE CIVIL HOSPITAL GRAVE MEMORIAL stands at the eastern end of the Singapore Memorial. During the last hours of the Battle of Singapore, wounded civilians and servicemen taken prisoner by the Japanese were brought to the hospital in their hundreds. The number of fatalities was such that burial in the normal manner was impossible. Before the war, an emergency water tank had been dug in the grounds of the hospital and this was used as a grave for more than 400 civilians and Commonwealth servicemen.

After the war, it was decided that as individual identification of the dead would be impossible, the grave should be left undisturbed. It was suitably enclosed, consecrated by the Bishop of Singapore, and a cross in memory of all of those buried there was erected over it by the military authorities. The 107 Commonwealth casualties buried in the grave are commemorated on the Singapore Civil Hospital Grave Memorial.

Kranji War Cemetery and the Singapore Memorial were designed by Colin St Clair Oakes.

Adjoining Kranji War Cemetery is KRANJI MILITARY CEMETERY, a substantial non-world war site of 1,378 burials, created in 1975 when it was found necessary to remove the graves of servicemen and their families from Pasir Panjang and Ulu Pandan cemeteries.

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