Sandakan camp

In October 1944, when the Japanese increasingly became defensive towards the end of the war, the airfield in Sandakan came under constant heavy bombing by Allied forces.

The remaining prisoners who were stranded on the burned area either died of malnutrition and disease, or were killed by the Japanese guards.

According to records, the site was once an experimental farm for the North Borneo Chartered Company, where fruit, grain and cattle were kept.

The wood fired steam vessel propelled the alternator which produced a voltage of 110 V for the illumination of the camp and the fencing.

The power house also played an important role for the operation of the clandestine transmitter of the camp underground organisation.

During the Japanese occupation, the leader who was responsible for the managing of the camp was Susumi Hoshijima, who held the rank of lieutenant.

He revealed his despotic, unscrupulous character to the newly arrived POWs in April 1943 with the words: "You will work until your bones rot under the tropical sun of Borneo.

The war will last for 100 years".In May 1945, the Japanese military leadership gave the order to abandon the POW camp.

[2] Both Hoshijima and Takakuwa would later be brought to the Labuan War Crimes Trials, where they were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging on 6 April 1946 in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.

Ill-treatment by shock and water torture were also frequent and the victim was left in the cage with no food, wearing only a loincloth or shorts, the prisoners were also defenceless against the mosquitoes, their constant attacks on the victims weakened body also make sleeping at night almost impossible.

In 1986, a memorial stone was erected on the site, to pay tribute to Captain Lionel Matthews and other resistance movement people in Sandakan as well as the six survivors of the death marches.

In 1995, after finalisation of an agreement between the Government of the State of Sabah, Government of Australia, the veterans association of the Returned and Services League of Australia and the City Council of Sandakan, a memorial was built at the POW camp site, which is known as Sandakan Memorial Park.