The Peace Park build by the Japanese,pays tribute to the ones who have sacrificed their lives in Borneo during WWII. It is also a memento of friendship between Malaysia and Japan, and a promise of peace and harmony for all mankind that such war-like cruelty will not happen again in the future.
The Surrender Point was build to commemorate the event on September 9, 1945 where the Japanese officially surrendered Labuan to the Australian. The commander of the Japanese 37th Army, Lieutenant General Masao Baba was flown to the shores of Layang-Layangan Beach in the Tachikawa K154C (HICKORY). And in a small wooden shack under the shelter of the coconut trees some 50 meters South-west of the Surrender Point, the handover signing ceremony took place.
He surrendered his sword formally to Major General George Wootten, commanding officer of the Australian 9th Division, under the witness of Group Captain C.W Pearce and Squadron Leader J.S St Heaps of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Sydney, Australia thus ending one of the bloodiest bombardment in Borneo which saw the Labuan town almost completely destroyed.
The Borneo Campaign
Remembrance Day and Relaunch of The Surrender Point 2011
Till today remnants of the war like this Australian Matilda Tank
which was fished out from the deep keep appearing
but sadly it normally ended up in a junkyard to be recycled.
The tank is seen here from the rear,upside down, taken with a handphone by my friend Sazali.
Matilda 2
View Peace Park in a larger map
What a way to remember history! Remnants of war well captured.
ReplyDeleteWould like to visit this someday, love the curves (1st & 2nd pics) and the perspective from where you took these pictures.
Thomas...The third picture that so unique...
ReplyDeleteAll pictures are so cantik.. But lagi cantik bila snap by u! Serously!
ReplyDeletetaman yg indah, pic yg cantik, nice :)
ReplyDeletemenarik...bersejarah
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a little bit of history, back in 1945..beautiful place, by the seaside right?
ReplyDeleteSometimes we need to be reminded of history to appreciate what we have, Lest we forget.
Peace!
:-)