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Additional
Information: |
Son of
Ebenezer Jones, and of Emma R. Jones, of Wheatley Hill, Co Durham. |
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Memorial:
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SINGAPORE
MEMORIAL, Singapore |
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Grave
Reference/ |
Column
22. |
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Location:
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The Memorial stands in Kranji War Cemetery. Kranji War
Cemetery is 22 kilometres north of the city of Singapore, on the north side
of Singapore Island overlooking the Straits of Johore. It is just off the
Singapore-Johore road (Woodlands road) at milestone 13 1/2 and there is a
short approach road from the main road. The Cemetery is known locally as
Kranji Memorial, and one must be sure of the address before boarding a taxi
as many taxi drivers do not know the Cemetery. There are also bus stops on
the main road facing the Cemetery and an MRT terminal is under construction a
short distance from the Cemetery. |
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Historical
Information: |
Before
1939 the Kranji area was a military camp and at the time of the Japanese
invasion of Malaya, it was the site of a large ammunition magazine. On 8
February 1942, the Japanese crossed the Johore Straits in strength, landing
at the mouth of the Kranji River within two miles of the place where the war
cemetery now stands. On the evening of 9 February, they launched an attack
between the river and the causeway. During the next few days fierce fighting
ensued, in many cases hand to hand, until their greatly superior numbers and
air strength necessitated a withdrawal. 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, 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 transferred to Kranji together with all Second World War graves
from Saigon Military Cemetery in French Indo-China (now Vietnam), another
site where permanent maintenance could not be assured. The Commission later
brought in graves of both World Wars from Bidadari Christian Cemetery,
Singapore, where again permanent maintenance was not possible. There are now
4,458 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War buried or commemorated
at KRANJI WAR CEMETERY. More than 850 of the burials are unidentified. The
Chinese Memorial in Plot 44 marks a collective grave for 69 Chinese
servicemen, all members of the Commonwealth forces, who were killed by the
Japanese during the occupation in February 1942. First World War burials and
commemorations number 64, including special memorials to three casualties
known to have been buried in civil cemeteries in Saigon and Singapore, but
whose graves could not be located. Within Kranji War Cemetery stands the
SINGAPORE MEMORIAL, bearing the names of over 24,000 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. The grave 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. |