The fallen Australian soldiers of the notorious Sandakan death march were remembered at an emotional ceremony at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.
About 90 Australians, mostly relatives of those who perished in the forced march, turned up Friday to hear talks by two former prisoners of war (PoWs) recalling the horror days of World War II.
Also present were Sabah Tourism marketing managers Noredah Othman and Josephine Chai as well as Tourism Malaysia Melbourne director Putra Hilmy Elias and marketing manager Hasanti Perera.
The event was organised by the Shrine of Remembrance chief executive Denis Baguley and Sabah Tourism representative in Australia Gwenda Zappala.
Despite their age, Sandakan PoWs Leslie (Bunny) Glover, 88, and Robert (Bob) Ellice-Flint, 90, who travelled from Queensland to be here, recalled vividly, for over an hour, their horror days in Sandakan, Sabah.
In the incident between January and March 1945, over 1,000 Australian and British PoWs were forced to march across 260km of treacherous terrain and dense jungle from the Sandakan prison camp to Ranau.
Only six Australian PoWs survived.
At the start of his enthralling war reminiscences, Glover told a sole Japanese, an antiwar woman, at the ceremony that no one held any grudge or animosity for the “sins of your grandfathers or great grandfathers” during the war when thousands of Australian and Allied troops were massacred.
Read More