Northumbrian Gunner: National Memorial Arboretum

During World war Two it is estimated that 13,000 British prisoners of war (POWs) died in Japanese captivity, the victims of malnutrition, disease and violence.

The Far East Prisoner of War (FEPOW) building commemorates the service personnel and civilians who died in captivity as a result of maltreatment from their Japanese captors.

Far East Prisoner of War Building

The Far East Prisoners of War Grove contains trees remembering individual FEPOWs.

FEPOW Memorial Grove

Gunner William Knight
240 Battery 77 HAA Regiment RA

The Changi Lynch Gate was built at the entrance of the cemetery for Changi Jail, Singapore. It's aim was to provide some dignity to those who had died in captivity. It was dismantled in 1971 when British troops withdrew from Japan. It was reconstructed at Bassingbourn Barracks where it remined util 2003 when it was moved to its present location in the National Memorial Arboretum.

Changi Gate

The Burma Railway from Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now Myanmar) was constructed between 1940 and 1943. It was constructed using around 250,000 Asian civilians and Allied Prisoners of War. More than 90,000 civilians and 12,000 Allied POW's lost their lives during the building of the railway.

The Burma Railway memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum remembers those working on that railway consists of an original 30 metres of the track.

Burma Railway Memorial

Along that railway is the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai.

River Kwai Memorial

The Sumatra Railway Memorial remembers the 5,000 Allied POW's and 30,000 local labourers who were involved with the construction of the Sumatra Railway. It was completed on 15th August 1945, VJ Day, the day Japan surrendered. The railway was never used.