Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the fallen heroes of World War II should be remembered for their deeds. "Without their sacrifices we will not be able to have the peace and comfort that we are enjoying today," he said at the Sandakan Memorial Day 2012 here on Wednesday.
His speech was delivered by Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Ellron Alfred Angin.
Musa said the Death March 67 years ago should also serve as a lesson to all. He commended the Sabah Tourism Board and Sandakan Municipal Council as well as those involved in organising the Memorial Day.
He also acknowledged the presence of the British High Commissioner, Simon Featherson and his Australian counterpart, Jane Duke. Also on hand was Datin Aminah Ambrose the daughter of Ambrose Samuel Dumpangol who was one of the World War II fighters who had been awarded the Kesatria Mangku Negara by the Yang diPertuan Agong as well as war veterans and families of the Death March soldiers.
18 January 1942: - The Seizure of British North Borneo:
After completing successful invasions in December and seizing the oilfields at Miri in Sarawak and Seria in Brunei, MajGen Kawaguchi Kiyotake orders LtCol Watanabe to capture Sandakan, the capital of British North Borneo. Watanabe, using ten small fishing boats carrying the majority of two infantry companies, lands at Sandakan. His men quickly disarm the 650-man Armed Constabulary and free 600 interned Japanese citizens. The next morning, Governor Robert Smith surrenders the State of North Borneo and is interned with his staff.
8 July 1942:
1500 Australian and British prisoners of war (POW) are sent from Changi POW Camp at Singapore to POW Camp No. 1 at Sandakan under the command of Captain Hoshijima Susumito. They are put to work building two airstrips and roads to supply them. After their first year at Sandakan, the POWs suffer terribly from starvation, overwork and disease.
April 1943:
A further 776 British POWs arrive and are placed in Sandakan's Camp 2.
June 1943:
500 Australian POWs arrive and are placed in Sandakan's Camp 3.
September 1944:
Lt Aita Hideo's untrained 300-man 6th Special Attack Shinyo Squadron and 48 crated Shinyo explosive motorboats (EMBs) are sent to Manila, Philippines aboard two unidentified oil tankers. By early October, the squadron is based at Zamboanga, Mindano and begins training.
October 1944:
Under continous threat of American air attacks, the 6th Shinyo Squadron is withdrawn from Zamboanga and transported to Sandakan, Sabah, NE Borneo. The squadron establishes its base on a small, swampy island on Sandakan Bay, but even here Allied planes raid Sandakan and the airfields. The 6th Shinyo Squadron is the only IJN unit at Sandakan.
20 October 1944: American Operation "KING TWO" - The Invasion of Leyte, Philippines:
Admiral (later Fleet Admiral) William F. Halsey's (former CO of SARATOGA, CV-3) Third Fleet, of 738 ships including 18 aircraft carriers, six battleships, 17 cruisers, 64 destroyers and over 600 support ships, lands the Army's X and XXIV Corps that begin the campaign to retake Leyte.
January - 15 August 1945:
By the beginning of 1945, many POWs have died in Japanese captivity. The POWS are ordered to march into the mountains to an isolated base at Ranau. A series of three such "death marches" results in the deaths of more than 3,600 Indonesian civilian slave laborers and 2,428 Australian and British POWs. Nearly 300 men, too sick to attempt the marches, either die or are executed at Sandakan. Of the hundreds of POWs, only six men – all Australians - escape during the marches, and are later rescued by Allied forces.
27 May 1945:
A massive Allied sea-air bombardment of Sandakan occurs. Japanese survivors from ships sunk in the harbor come ashore and kill any local people they find. As a result of the Oct '44 invasion of Leyte, the 6th Shinyo Squadron was trapped at Sandakan for the duration of the war. By war's end, about 170 of the squadron's men die of malaria, other tropical diseases and malnutrition. Only about 30 men are KIA, probably either in USAAF bombing attacks or the bombardment of Sandakan. The 6th Shinyo Squadron never makes an attack using its EMBs.
15 August 1945: Cessation of Hostilities:
Imperial Palace, Tokyo. At noon, the Emperor announces Japan's surrender that is broadcast by radio all over the Japanese Empire.
Ranau, Borneo. Many Japanese refuse to surrender and the killing of POWs by beheading, shooting or bayoneting continues weeks after the end of the war. The war crimes interrogation of Captain Hoshijima reveals that the last POWs were killed at Ranau on 27 August 1945, well after the Japanese surrender. Undoubtedly, they were killed to stop them testifying to the atrocities committed by the guards.
9 September 1945:
Morotai, Halmaheras, Molucca Islands. LtGen Teshima Fusataro, C-in-C, Japanese Second Army, signs the instrument of surrender of all Japanese forces remaining in Borneo and the Netherlands East Indies east of Lombok Island (about 126,000 men). General (later Field Marshal) Sir Thomas Blamey, C-in-C, Allied Land Force, South West Pacific Area, accepts the surrender from Teshima who also surrenders his Shin-Gunto samurai sword (with general officer's knot).
Sources: Daily Express, http://www.combinedfleet.com/BorneoEMB.htm.
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