Kranji War memorial

 Singapore - This morning after breakfast, Edmund and I went to Kranji War Cemetery and State cemetery.   

War Memorial

It was a sunny day and we were sweating under the direct sun.  There were no visitors during this time except some landscapers putting flowers on the grave stones.

Located in the northwestern part of Singapore, the Kranji area became a military base in the 1930s and was a munitions depot before being converted into battalion headquarters for Australian troops after the Allied withdrawal from Singapore on 31 January 1942.

Kranji was a key battle site during the Japanese invasion. With the loss of Malaya, the retreating Allied units were redeployed in a new defence perimeter around Singapore. 

rows of tombstone of fallen soldiers

Memorial register of the war dead at this war memorial.  Of the 2,690 burials and inscriptions of missing Australian personnel at the cemetery, 519 have their date of death recorded as between 8 and 10 February 1942, suggesting that they fell in action during the opening battles. The location of the cemetery is thus significant considering that Kranji was where the war began and ended for many.   

Kranji War Cemetery has its origins in a prisoner-of-war camp established by the Japanese in this area in 1944. Prisoners who died were buried in a cemetery on a hill behind the camp. After the war in 1946, this cemetery was chosen as the site of a permanent war cemetery for Allied soldiers. Military graves from other parts of Singapore as well as Saigon (Vietnam) were then transferred to Kranji War Cemetery, which contains more than 4,400 graves today. 

Kranji State Cemetery

Kranji State Cemetery, which is located just outside Kranji War Cemetery, was established by the Singapore government in 1970 for individuals who have “made important contributions to national progress”. The cemetery contains the graves of two former presidents: Yusof Ishak, who was Singapore’s Yang di-Pertuan Negara (Head of State) from 1959-1965 and first President from 1965-1970; and Dr Benjamin Sheares, Singapore’s second President from 1971-1981.

President Yusof Ishak

Yusof held many appointments within the Singaporean government. He served on the Film Appeal Committee from 1948 to 1950 and was also a member of both the Nature Reserves Committee and Malaysian Commission for a year. In July 1959, he was appointed Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Singapore.

He lends his name to several landmarks and buildings including Yusof Ishak Secondary School, ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute,  Yusof Ishak House in National University of Singapore, and mosque Masjid Yusof Ishak. 

President Benjamin Sheares

Dr Benjamin Henry Sheares was the second president of the Republic of Singapore. He held this office from 2 January 1971 at the age of 63 until his death on 12 May 1981. Besides his presidency, Sheares was also known as Singapore’s “father of modern obstetrics and gynaecology”. 

President Benjamin Shears also lends his name to several landmarks and buildings including the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, Singapore’s longest bridge, and the Sheares Hall, a hostel of the National University of Singapore.

somber and tranguil