Dedicated to the men and women from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, Malaya, the Netherlands and New Zealand who died defending Singapore and Malaya against the invading Japanese forces during World War II, it comprises the War Graves, the Memorial Walls, the State Cemetery, and the Military Graves.

The War Cemetery is the final resting place for 4,458 Allied servicemen in marked graves laid out in rows on maintained and manicured lawns.

There are also 64 burials for World War I, including special memorials for three men who were buried in civil cemeteries in Singapore and Saigon, and whose graves were impossible to locate until this day.

Previously a hospital burial ground during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, it became a military cemetery at the end of the war.

The names of Indian servicemen were inscribed on the memorial walls as they had already been cremated, as is customary in Hinduism.