November 11, 2023 Labuan Malaysia
On November 11 we attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Labuan Commonwealth War Cemetery.
There must have been more than 200 people including dignitaries, military and civilians attending and participating. The service was occasionally paused for flyovers of jet fighters, a helicopter and huge propeller cargo planes. There were dignitaries from Labuan, and representatives from the UK. For example the British High Commissioner representing Brunei. Also the Malaysian, British and Australian military were well represented. The wreath laying took some time as every group took their turn laying their wreaths.
There are British, Australians, Indians and Malay soldiers buried at this cemetery. The religious portion of the service was interesting. The Muslim, Hindu & Sikh groups consisting of close to half the attendees went off to the other side of the cemetery for their respective service and wreath laying. The Christian service officiated by an Anglican minister here in Labuan continued where we were seated at the Colonnade. There were familiar prayers followed by The Last Post bugle, wreath laying, bag pipes and the marching of soldiers from Malaysia, Australia and Britain. The soldiers were impeccably dressed and in perfect timing and alignment. The sun was hot and so were they. It had rained until about 6am that morning and the temperature was well over 30ºC. The honour guards stood motionless in the full sun whereas we had tents shading us with electric fans blowing everywhere. They even supplied everyone with one of the old fashioned personal fans, like a ping-pong paddle that is embossed with ❤️ Labuan. Everyone but the soldiers.
The Labuan War Cemetery was primarily intended to commemorate the officers and men of the Australian Army and Air Force who died as prisoners-of-war (POWs) in Borneo and in the Philippines from 1939 to 1945; as well as fallen men who fought during the 1945 operations to recover Borneo. The POWs of Sandakan, the perished war heroes of the Australian 7th, 8th and 9th Divisions, as well as those of the Punjab Signal Corp and a few locals are buried here. The site was officiated by the Australian government in June 1953. The cemetery contains 3,908 graves of soldier in perfectly squared platoons, much like they would have stood in salutation when alive. The soldiers buried here are from Australian, Great Britain, India, New Zealand and Malaysia. Of the 3,908 graves, 2,156 are unidentified and their headstones are inscribed “Known Unto God.” Of the 1,752 identified graves, 1,523 were soldiers, 220 airmen, 5 sailors and 4 civilians of which 814 are British, 858 Australians, 1 New Zealander, 43 Indians and 35 Malayan. The other 34 Indians soldiers were cremated and commemorated on the memorial at the Indian Army plot.
We caught a ride to the service with the owner of our hotel. Our hotel is 15-20 minutes away from the cemetery and the shuttle times didn’t work so we really appreciated the ride. After the almost 3 hour ceremony, which was quite interesting, we were invited for a light lunch by the hotel owner at one of his other hotels. While the intention was a light lunch, the Canadian’s in fact left stuffed like little piggies. Linda was smart and only ordered chicken satay and peanut sauce but it was still a bit too much.
After lunch we spent an hour or two at the pool. Pool time goes by so fast sometimes because we don’t take our watches, we just check the time on our Kindles when needed. One day our first dip in the pool saw us in the water for over an hour. If we float around the one pool edge we can catch some shade or sit on a set of steps that are under some trees where we can stay cool and out of the sun. We do spend some time in the full sun while in the water, but even with a heavy layer of sunscreen you have to be careful. Our lounge chairs are always in the shade. It’s just too hot otherwise!
