Today is Anzac Day.........

I have just arrived back home (in Singapore) from the Dawn Service that was held at the Kranji War Memorial. The candle (superimposed on the photo of the graves) was lit a couple of weeks ago at Changi War Memorial for Edward George WALKEDEN (my great uncle) who was a POW here from 1942 - 1945.

The Australian High Commission in Singapore hosts ANZAC Day on even years and New Zealand High Commission hosts on odd years. The New Zealand High Commission hosted the ANZAC Day Dawn Service this year and the service was held at the Kranji War Memorial and commenced at 6.30 am.

I did take some photos, but they are not of good quality as it was not appropriate to use flash. So they are a little blurry, but you get the idea of what it looked like.

It was a very moving experience for everyone that attended. Probably more so as we were sitting behind the graves of the servicemen and women buried here.

There are 4,458 Second World War casualties buried or commemorated at Kranji. Over 850 of these are unidentified. The Chinese Memorial is a collective grave for 69 Chinese servicemen, members of the Commonwealth forces, killed by the Japanese in February 1942. Kranji War Memorial is located along Woodlands Road where the Japanese Imperial Guards advanced down this road on 9th February 1942. There are also 64 burials and commemorations from the First World War which include special memorials to three men who were buried in civil cemeteries in Saigon and Singapore, whose graves could not be found.

http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/what_to_see/world_war_ii_sites/kranji_war_memorial.html