09 August 2015

Kranji War Memorial

The Kranji War Memorial bears the names of more than 24,000 casualties of the Commonwealth forces who died during WW2 in the South-East Asian Theatre. Of these, 4,500 were buried and Kranji.

The road leading to the memorial




Gardeners maintaining the cemetery, a bunch of students in the background

The buildings faintly visible in the background are in Johor, where Japanese came to Singapore from


It is one thing to read from books about the different regiments that fought here. 8th Division of the 22nd Brigade sounds very real when one sees it inscribed on a headstone. It is hard to put my head around the many British Regiments that fought in the defence of Singapore. Here are examples, starting with the Australian forces.

Australia


Royal Australian Air Force
2/18 Infantry Battalion (Australian Imperial Force)

Royal Australian Naval Reserve

Great Britain
Air Vice Marshal Pulford - Royal Air Force


HMS Prince of Wales
HMS Repulse
HMS Sultan
HMS Indomitable
Royal Army Chaplain
Army Catering Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Ordnance Corps


Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Artillery
The Border Regiment
Craftsman
The Pioneer Corps

18th Reconnaissance Corps
The Cambridgeshire Regiment
The East Surrey Regiment
The Gordon Highlanders

135th Hertfordshire Yeomanry

The Leicestershire Regiment
The Loyal Regiment
The Manchester Regiment

The Royal Norfolk Regiment

The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers

The Queen's Royal Regiment

The Sherwood Foresters

The Suffolk Regiment

The Sutherland Highlanders
The West Yorkshire Regiment

Canada

Royal Canadian Air Force

New Zealand

Royal New Zealand Navy
Malaya

Federated Malay States Volunteer Force

Singapore Volunteer Corps