As a result of the Covid 19 pandemic restrictions on assembly many of the planned VJ commemorations across the UK were either cancelled or significantly scaled back. The Museum decided to have a modest private commemoration for VJ Day within the rules on limited assembly and social distancing. The focus of the event was the…

FEPOW Memorial Locomotive Appeal “to keep going the spirit that kept them going” Emerging plans that would have seen the Rocks-by-Rail* Museum’s Far Eastern Prisoner of War (FEPOW) Memorial Steam Locomotive SINGAPORE returned to steam are under threat following the theft of parts of the locomotives valve gear. The loss of these vital components has…

After the Japanese ignored an ultimatum the Allies dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945.  Four days after the dropping of the second bomb the Japanese Emperor Hirohito issued a recorded statement at noon on 14th August 1945 that hostilities had ended and the war was over. This news…

On the 28th August 1945 British Liberator bombers swooped low over the Changi Gaol Prison of War Camp in war torn Singapore. Leaflets fluttered down from the aircraft bringing the first news of the Japanese surrender. Emotions within the thousands of sick and emaciated prisoners ran high as news of their impending liberation spread around…