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A Visit of Labuan War Cemetery
I had to visit Labuan island to meet a client. Labuan is also known as 'The Pearl of Borneo', a small island part of Sabah, Malaysia in Brunei Bay, the island is off the coast of north-west Borneo and is a very pleasent place to spend a few days.
I combined the trip with a meeting of a client in KL, so first travelled there which I always enjoy, did an overnight downtown then took the short hop on a plane to Labuan.
Picture below shows location of Labuan in SE Asia.
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I was staying for 3 - 4 days, so the client had laid on accomodation for me, it was your standard 'luxury' double story 'villa' on gated estate. It was okay for a few days.
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Short walk to the beach which is not the best beach I have been to and is used by local kids in their cars as a race track.
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Meetings done and agreements made, it was time to take a day to myself and decided to visit the Labuan War Cemetery and Labuan Memorial.
The Cemetery lies on the Jalan Tanjong Batu road, which leads from the airport to the town. It is less than a kilometre from the airport and about 3 kilometres from the island's town of Victoria.
The Labuan Memorial was primarily intended to commemorate the officers and men of the Australian Army and Air Force who died while prisoners of war in Borneo and the Philippines from 1942 to 1945 and during the 1945 operations for the recovery of Borneo, and have no known grave. Subsequently it was found that a number of men belonging to the local forces of North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei who were killed on war service also have no known grave, and they too are honoured here. The memorial commemorates a total of 2294 Commonwealth casualties. Men of the Royal Australian Navy who lost their lives in the south-western Pacific region, and have no grave but the sea, are commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial in England, along with many of their comrades of the Royal Navy and of other Commonwealth Naval Forces. This memorial consists of a colonnade forming a forecourt immediately inside the wrought iron gates of the main entrance to the cemetery. On the inner faces of the pillars are bronze panels on which are engraved the names of those whom it honours and the dedicatory inscription is on the frieze facing the entrance. Some of those whose names appear on the memorial are undoubtedly buried in unidentified graves in this cemetery.
Here are a few snaps I took. (Next Post)
