We traveled further east from Kinabalu Park towards Kundasang and we found a monument that is called Kundasang War Memorial.
Kundasang is a small town which is about 6km from the Kinabalu Park. The road we traveled is as expectedly winding but there was not so many vehicles.
What war are we talking about here? Here is a bit of history lesson, errr turn off those handsets please..
Pay attention..
Take note of these three towns, Kundasang, Sandakan, and Ranau. Refer to the map again...
In 1945, during the occupation of Japanese army in the North Borneo, the prisoners of war (POWs) were forced to build an airstrip at Sandakan, yess for the Japanese army of course.
When the Allied forces land in Sandakan, yess again to free those prisoners la, the Japanese army ordered the prisoners to walk 250km inland to Ranau. Got the picture?
Walking 250km through swamps, jungles and mountains....
Out of 455 POWs, only 160 made it to Ranau, from which only six would than live; five Australian and one British soldier.
From the remaining 885 POWs still left in Sandakan, 536 were forced to march to Ranau in the second marches. The rest were left to die in Sandakan. Out of those 536 POWs who marched, only 183 survived.
Sad......
At the end, only three Australian soldiers survived the ordeal and gave evidence in the criminal court in Tokyo. The Japanese Captain Hokijima was found guilty and hanged.
The Australian built this memorial in 1962.
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| Those plaques contain the list of POWs who died. |
Nelson Short also wrote:
To think that a man was going to survive. You saw these men every day when you were getting treated for ulcers. The dead were lying there, naked skeletons. They were all ready to be buried. You thought to yourself, well, how could I possibly get out of a place like this? We’re in the middle of Borneo, we’re in the jungle. How possibly could we ever survive? Sydney was a long way from there.
But, at the top of the memorial, the view of Kundasang is awesome. How nice living in those little house on the hill overlooking the valley.
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| Yes it's me again....chowww. |
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