Tuesday 2 November 2010

Adrian Charles AKHURST

 The Kranji War Memorial in Singapore 
is a monument dedicated in memory of the international soldiers who died while saving the Malay and the natives from the Japanese forces during the 2nd World War. 

The Kranji War Memorial is situated at the 9 Woodlands Road in Northern Singapore's Kranji. The Kranji War Memorial includes the memorial walls, the State cemetery, the Military Graves and the War Graves. The Kranji War Memorial was first unveiled in the year 1946 .

During the World War 11, tens of thousands of international soldiers
from the Commonwealth countries like
Canada, Australia, Srilanka, India, Malay, U.K., New Zealand and The Netherlands,
died while protecting Singapore and Malay from the occupying Japanese forces.
The monument is built to honor the memories of all those fallen soldiers.

The names of over 25,000 allied soldiers killed in the war, are inscribed on both sides of the twelve columns of the Memorial Walls. Their bodies were never recovered. About 4,458 allied soldiers are laid to rest in the Kranji War Graves. The graves are marked with the names of the soldiers, and the lawns surrounding the graves are nicely manicured.
The main reason for us visiting the Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore, 
last weekend was to take photos for a friend of ours from Melbourne. 
One of his family members is listed on one of the walls of the Memorial.
Adrian Charles AKHURST
Killed in action in Malaysia
on 15 February 1942.


 his name appears on wall 119

The Memorial designed like an aerofoil with 12 broad columns 
and the inscription in the main memorial reads:

1939-1945 On the walls of this Memorial are recorded
the names of twenty-four thousand soldiers and airmen
of many races united in service to the British Crown
who gave their lives in Malaya 
and neighbouring lands and seas and in
the air over Southern and Eastern Asia and the Pacific
But to whom the fortune of war
denied the customary rites
accorded to their comrades in death


THEY DIED FOR ALL FREE MEN



The War Memorial represents the three branches of the military 
the Air Force, Army and Navy

The columns represent the Army, which marches in columns, the cover over the columns is shaped after of the wings of a plane, representing the Air Force, and the shape at the top resembles the periscope of a submarine, representing the Navy. 

The Memorials walls inscribe over 24000 names of allied servicemen whose bodies were never found, spread over both sides of 12 columns of the war memorial itself.  


The huge central pylon of the Singapore Memorial rises through the roof to a 
height of 80 ft with a star at its top.


the blog postings on our visit to Kranji War Memorial can be found here
and how to get to the War Memorial


 RIP  
Adrian Charles AKHURST 
and for all who died to keep us free




for anyone with an interest in the AKHURST name and it's variants
please contact David Evans




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