SGH War Memorial
SGH War Memorial | |
---|---|
Singapore | |
Japanese Occupation of Singapore: 407 | |
Beneath this cross lie 94 British, 6 Malayan, 5 Indian, 2 Australian soldiers and 300 civilians of many races, victims of man's inhumanity to man, who perished in captivity in February 1942. The soldiers are commemorated by name at Kranji War Cemetery . |
The SGH War Memorial is located within the grounds of the
History
Etymology
Built in 1882, the Singapore General Hospital used to occupy the site of a Sepoy Camp (Sepoy is from the
College of Medicine
The
The building was designed by Major P.H. Keys, who also designed the
King Edward VII Hall
Built in 1957, King Edward Hall comprises a main block and two four-storey buildings serving as a hostel for medical students. Many leading doctors and dentists from Singapore and
Double tragedy
On the morning of 14 February 1942, Yoong Tat Sin, a fourth-year medical student, was fatally injured by
That same evening, his fellow friends, about 25 students from the medical and dental faculties of the College of Medicine decided to give Yoong a proper burial within the grounds of the hospital. One of the five trenches dug out earlier for air raid purposes was converted into a grave for Yoong. As the grave was being prepared, they were spotted by Japanese gunners which began pouring a heavy barrage of shells at the defenceless students. Some quick-footed students managed to flee to safety towards the College building. However, those left behind only had time to leap into the trenches and Yoong's grave. As a result, 11 of the students were killed, three were wounded and only two managed to escape injury in the aftermath.[5] Those who were killed instantaneously were given a burial on the morning of 16 February, a day after the surrender of Singapore to the Japanese, in the trenches where they fell.
In Memoriam
After the war, the British Colonial Government erected a memorial to commemorate the British soldiers and civilian war dead along College Road near the spot where the slain students were killed. The memorial consists of a painted wooden cross affixed to a pyramidal granite base. The words inscribed at the base of the cross reads:
Beneath this cross lie 94 British, 6 Malayan, 5 Indian, 2 Australian soldiers and 300 civilians of many races, victims of man's inhumanity to man, who perished in captivity in February 1942. The soldiers are commemorated by name at Kranji War Cemetery.[6]
Together with the slain students, the Commonwealth military casualties were buried in a mass grave site on the hospital grounds (beneath the memorial) due to the intense shelling and lack of burial space in the last days before the fall of Singapore.[7]
On 22 October 1948, Dr
See also
- Civilian War Memorial
- Bukit Batok Memorial
- Other WWII Memorials in Singapore
References
Notes
- ^ Singapore General Hospital, "Outram Campus Heritage Trail Guide".
- ^ Savage, "Sepoy Lines", pp. 346–347.
- ^ a b "College of Medicine Building" – Information obtained from on-site heritage plaque
- ^ "Outram Campus Heritage Trail" (PDF). SGH Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2007.
- ^ a b c Major Yap, "Singapore General Hospital – Student Tragedy", pp. 72–74.
- ^ Information obtained from on-site memorial cross near Block 3, Hospital Drive.
- ^ Bose, "The Civil Hospital Grave Memorial", p. 15.
Bibliography
- Major Yap Siang Yong, Romen Bose; et al. (1992). Fortress Singapore – The Battlefield Guide. Singapore: Times Books International. ISBN 981-204-365-9.
- Bose, Romen (2005). Kranji – The Commonwealth War Cemetery and the Politics of the Dead. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 981-261-275-0.
- Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2004). Toponymics – A Study of Singapore Street Names (2nd Ed). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press. ISBN 981-210-364-3.