The story of this memorial is heartbreaking. The Kundasang War Memorial represents the start of the death march that thousands of captured Australian and British soldiers had to endure during WW2. Humanity can be devastating. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a war memorial and been so effected by what had happen at that place.
This site was the end of the death march from Sandakan to Ranau, for British and Australian soldiers in the Second World War - only 6 soldiers survived and they were all from Australia. The march was lead by the Japanese at the end of the war when they realised they were about to lose and were told to kill all prisoners of war. The pain and conditions they were put through made me feel disgusted. How anyone can do this to another human being is beyond me…
These soldiers were all skin and bones and surviving off of maggot ridden food - they were then made to walk around 160miles. The people of Borneo helped as much as they could along the way but were unable to help them survive.
This is one the most tragic stories of this war and I had never heard of it. I feel like that’s what got to me the most. We were never taught about it at school and it is never spoken about on Memorial Day. It’s as if 641 British soldiers that died were forgotten about. I definitely feel like that is not right at all.
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