Sandakan has an interesting history as it was the former capital of Sabah until the Japanese invasion and subsequent Allied bombing in 1945 which almost destroyed the town. In 1946 the capital was then moved to Jesseltown (now Kota Kinabalu).
Sandakan was the site of a very large Japanese POW camp where 1800 Australians and 600 British were interned in appalling conditions during WWII until they were marched 250 km through the jungle to the Ranau Prisioner Camp.There were 3 separate marches and they became known as the Death Marches as many prisoners who were already in poor health were forced to march through the jungle without boots and with very little rations consequently many of them died on route. Many more died at Ranau so that after the War there were only 6 survivors.
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| At the Sandakan War Memorial |
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| The Australian Memorial Park Sandakan |
Each Anzac Day many Australians come to pay tribute to these brave men by "walking about 2 km along the track" to experience the conditions. They also attend the Anzac Day Services at the Sandakan and Ranau War Cemeteries. This was one of the purposes for our visit to Sandakan and our previous visit to Ranau.
So to pay tribute to these brave men we went to the beautiful, quite, peaceful Australian War Memorial Park to honour those who fought and died for us. Lest We Forget
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| Lest We Forget |
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