Stories of military service and sacrifice

 

We arrived at the entrance of the Australian War Memorial just as a group of teenagers converged ahead of us so we inched our way in to have our bags tagged.

 

View of the Commemorative Area from the
entrance to Hall of Memory; The names of 
nations, including Malaya, are on the walls

I was pleased to see teenagers, young people and school children in the gallery, mostly on a guided group tour for them to gain better insights from their visit.

 

Such a visit to a national war memorial or museum dedicated to those who have died as a result of war, will be a valuable experience when people learn to appreciate the military for their service and sacrifice.

 

For generations who have never experienced the hardship of wars, it is essential for them to look back and learn from history – whether good or bad – so that they can build a better tomorrow for themselves and future generations.

 

Quotation in the lobby of
the Australian War Memorial

On a White wall in the main lobby, I saw a quote by Sergeant Adam Bryan, Royal Australian Air Force Middle East who said, “Lives have been lost, and family members have made sacrifices… It’s a continuing timeline, and it’s important that these stories are told.”  

 

As I explored the galleries in the Australian War Memorial and saw the collection of exhibits for the First World War, Second World War, Cold War, Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, the Indonesian Confrontation among others, a lump started to form in my throat.

 

The galleries are well curated and designed for visitors to have an immersive sound and light experience, complete with low lighting, soundscapes in military schemes along with voices, music and battle noises.

 

While I may not have been through any war, I have heard first-hand experiences and horror stories of the Second World War from our grandmother and my dad who survived the Japanese invasion and occupation.

 

School children on an educational visit in
the Australian War Memorial

My dad was a Nursing Orderly with the Royal Army Medical Corps whose campaign and service abroad covered, “Johore and Singapore.” [Johore is the old spelling for Johor, the southern-most state in peninsula Malaysia, linked to Singapore by a causeway.]

 

Dad’s duties as a medical first responder, was to rescue the injured and provide first-aid before sending them to the hospital. He probably also carried the wounded on stretchers before and after dressing their wounds and sending them to safety.

 

I read from his Discharge Certificate that dad was discharged from his duties from 29 January 1947. In recognition of his service in the War of 1939 to 1945, dad was awarded three medals: The 1939/1945 Star, the Pacific Star and the War Medal.

 

Seen at the exhibit on Stretcher-Bearers

My dad’s medals may pale in comparison to the grand medals displayed in the Hall of Valour gallery but when I looked at those shiny medals, the lump in my throat threatened to choke me. As I walked through the galleries, I realized that I was breathing with my mouth, blowing out puffs of breath to avert tears.

 

At the exhibit on Stretcher-Bearers, I was drawn to read the small White plaque which read (in part) like this:

 

“…stretcher-bearers worked tirelessly to perform first-aid and carry the wounded to aid posts and dressing stations. As non-combatants, the stretcher-bearers from the Australian Army Medical Corps were not armed, but just like any other soldier they faced the dangers of the front line.”

 

Sculpture of a Water Carrier

In another gallery, there was a bronze sculpture by Wallace Anderson (1888 – 1975) of a Water Carrier who was carrying three two-gallon petrol tins of precious water to his comrades. The information plaque explained that:

 

“Water, even more than other essentials, was key to life at Anzac, and for most of the campaign, every drop had to carried to the front lines from reservoirs and wells near the coast.”

 

These brief descriptions echoed what my dad told me about his work in the field and increased my respect for the service and sacrifice of the military, even the non-combatant soldiers.

 

Then a familiar outline of a map I recognized as Johor in then Malaya made me pause to study the names of towns like Muar, Bakri, Batu Pahat and Yong Peng that included my hometown, Johor Bahru. The name for Parit Sulong was in Red bold print, so I had to read the accompanying plaque:

 

Map of Johor in the Australian War Memorial

“Charles Anderson (1897 – 1988) was born in South Africa and came to Australia in 1935. He had been awarded the Military Cross in the First World War. In 1940 he joined the Second AIF and was appointed to command the 2/19^th Battalion in Malaya.

 

During the Japanese advance, the battalion was sent to the Bakri area. Following the heavy casualties, Anderson took command of the brigade and led it in a fighting withdrawal toward Parit Sulong.

 

Cut off and surrounded, for four days he led attacks against roadblocks and enemy positions. Finally trapped and with no possible hope, Anderson ordered that everything be destroyed and survivors form groups to try to get south.

 

Once Singapore fell, Anderson became a prisoner-of-war and later worked on the notorious Burma-Thailand Railway. Afterwards he returned to farming. In 1949, he was elected to federal parliament where he served as the Country Party member for Hume.”

 

Gallery for the Malayan Emergency

Another gallery of interest featured the Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti-British Liberation War (1948 – 1960).

 

This was a guerrilla war fought in Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army and the military forces of the Federation of Malaya and Commonwealth (British Empire).

 

The communists fought to win independence for Malaya from the British Empire and to establish a communist state, while the Malayan Federation and Commonwealth forces fought to combat communism and protect British economic and colonial interests.

 

The term “Emergency” was used by the British to characterize the conflict in order to avoid referring to it as a war, because London-based insurers would not pay out in instances of civil wars.  [Credit Reference from: Wikipedia]

 

The Malayan Emergency struck a familiar chord because under the Briggs Plan (named after Harold Briggs), the British forcibly relocated a million civilians into concentration camps dubbed, “New Villages.”

 

The Kuching Stone

Over the years, many of these New Villages have evolved into residential areas so I wanted modern generations to understand the history and origin of the “New Villages.”

 

To do this, I documented a heritage story, “The Legacy of New Villages” in my book, My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor, Then and Now, the third and final instalment that completed the trilogy of My Johor Stories books. [MPH Publishing Kuala Lumpur, 2022.]

 

Another exhibit that caught my interest was the Kuching Stone. Inscriptions on the stone were in Chinese characters while the information plaque read like this:

 

“This stone commemorates the opening of the Kuching prisoner-of-war camp on 15 August 1942. The stone bears the name of the camp commander, Colonel Suga Tatisuji, and the command, “Be faithful.”

 

View of the Commemorative Area and the 
Eternal Flame to a backdrop of the 
Hall of Memory

About 3,000 prisoners were held in Kuching, in Sarawak (now Malaysia). They comprised civilian adults and children and military personnel from Australia, Britain, India and Holland.

 

The prisoners had about one cup of rice each, per day and whatever they could buy or steal. They were given no medicine. Many adults died from malnutrition and disease but remarkably, not one child died.

 

We can now regard this stone as a memorial to all who suffered at Kuching.”

 

Outdoors in the Commemorative Area, I read the names of Malaya and Singapore emblazoned on the walls along with the names of the nations in the allied forces and saw the eternal flame that burned to honour the memory of the fallen.

 

Inside the Tomb of the 
Unknown Soldier

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located in the Hall of Memory, situated at one end of the Commemorative Area. This tomb represents all Australian war dead from World War One and subsequent conflicts. The inscription around the tomb reads:

 

“An unknown Australian soldier killed in the war of 1914 – 1918. Known unto God. He is all of them and he is one of us.”

 

At the opposite end of the Commemorative Area, from an elevated position, I saw the landscaped gardens and roads in the heart of Canberra that led directly to the Parliament House, situated on top of Capital Hill.

 

On our way out from the Commemorative Area, we walked on the upper corridor pass the Roll of Honour, an entire wall covered by bronze panels that listed over 103,000 Australian armed forces members who died in service.

 

Dubbed cloister walls, strings of red poppies decorated these walls where the blooms were placed next to the names in their memory.

 

It was encouraging to see groups of
students and young people being guided
 through the Australian War Memorial

The red poppy is a poignant symbol of remembrance for military personnel who died or suffered in war and conflict. It represents the memory of the fallen, the sacrifice of those who served and acts as a plea for peace.

 

This flower symbolises the blood-red poppies that bloomed across battle-scarred, war-torn European landscapes. In Australia and the Commonwealth, the poppy is worn on the left side, close to the heart on Remembrance Day (November 11).

 

The mood was contemplative as we made our way out of the War Memorial.

 

An experience in this destination certainly brought the reality of war and its consequences alive as I recalled our grandmother’s and my dad’s first-hand experience stories. I watched as more visitors arrived, many of them youths.

 

And I echo the sentiment that indeed, “There are no winners in war.”

 

#MyJohorStoriesTravelogue

#MyJohorStoriesFebruary2026