On the 80th Anniversary of its capture by Japanese forces the Museum held a short commemoration of the Fall of Singapore featuring its Far Eastern Prisoner of War Memorial former Singapore Royal Navy dockyard steam locomotive SINGAPORE. The commemoration was attended by some close relatives of former Prisoners of War whilst a museum member laid a wreath beneath the memorial nameplate on the locomotive.
This was supplemented by the placing of white orchids (the Far East conflict flower of Remembrance ) by all those present to remember the 80,000 British and Australian servicemen who became prisoners of war under the Japanese occupation. The lack of care for the welfare of the prisoners shown by their Japanese captors is well known and they suffered a poor diet, unrelenting hard labour and harsh treatment. One in four of the prisoners did not survive their captivity.
The commemoration concluded with the reading of the Kohima Epitaph:
‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today’
Never forget