Rows of white headstones lead up to the Singapore Memorial at Kranji, which records the names of 24,346 soldiers and airmen who have no known grave.
Kranji War Cemetery, at 9 Woodlands Road about 22 km from the city, holds 4,461 Commonwealth war burials. The graves lead up to the Singapore Memorial, which records the names of 24,346 soldiers and airmen who died in the Malaya and Indonesia campaigns or in captivity and have no known grave. It is the place in the north to see Singapore's wartime history.
The attack on Singapore came overland, down the Malay Peninsula: Japanese troops landed across the Strait of Johor on 8 February 1942, and a week later, on 15 February, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrendered; tens of thousands of British, Indian, Australian and local troops became prisoners of war. Beside the war cemetery, the Kranji State Cemetery holds the graves of presidents Yusof bin Ishak and Benjamin Sheares.
