The Last Camp Memorial
Description
Known as Ranau Number 2 Prisoner of War Jungle Camp: the memorial comprises a large bronze plaque set onto a stone cairn featuring 183 rocks, one for each POW who died at this camp. Embedded into the base of the cairn are 1047 rocks from the headwaters of the Liwagu River which ran through the camp. These represent one for each POW who set out from Sandakan in the three death marches and did not survive.
History
The memorial is in honour of the 183 POWs known to have died at the Last Camp Site. The unveiling date (27 August 2009) is significant as it was the 64th anniversary of the murder of the final 15 POWs.
The plaque on the Memorial reads:
RANAU NUMBER 2 PRISONER OF WAR JUNGLE CAMP
THE LAST CAMP
"During 1945, more than 1000 Australian and British Prisoners of War were marched by the occupying Japanese through the jungle from Sandakan to Ranau, a distance of 250 kilometers. In June, the 189 men who had survived these death marches were concentrated in the valley below, at 'the last camp".
Conditions were appalling. Six weeks later, all but 32 were dead. Of these, seventeen were murdered on 1 August. The remaining fifteen were killed on 27 August , twelve days after the war had ended.
Another 1400 prisoners died at the main Sandakan Camp. Six Australians, including four from this camp, managed to escape and were hidden by the local people, who risked their lives to help them.
They were the sole survivors.
Beside the names of all 183 POWs who died here, it also has the story in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and English.
Construction Information
No information available at this time.
Location
Ranau, Malaysia.
The Memorial is situated at Pialungan, five miles (8.3km) south of Ranau town and overlooks the valley where the last camp was sited.
Gates are open 10am to 11.30 am and from 2.00 to 3.30 pm