Brutality of Sandakan still pains

Governor-General Quentin Bryce AC and Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell at the unveiling of the Sandakan Death Marches Memorial in Lismore yesterday.

THE large crowd sat silently at the Lismore Cenotaph yesterday as speaker after speaker rose to honour the dead.

For decades, the brutality of the deaths of at least 47 Northern Rivers men in one of the darkest acts of World War II had been concealed.

The families of the men were also deceived by governments.

But yesterday, 65 years to the day since the last of the prisoners was murdered by the Japanese, Governor-General Quentin Bryce unveiled the Northern Rivers' tribute to the victims of the Sandakan death camp and the death marches that flowed from it.

More than 1700 Australian and 600 British soldiers ‘died the most awful deaths' in the camp or on the marches, Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell told the gathering of about 500 people.

Many of the men died during death marches that had the specific goal of removing evidence ofJapanese atrocities against prisoners of war after it became clear the Allies had won.

The last of the prisoners was shot dead about two weeks after the Japanese surrender to US General Douglas Macarthur.

Only six Sandakan prisoners made it home. Two of those only escaped by rolling into the jungle at an opportune moment during one of the death marches.

The escapees survived with the help of members of the Sabahan population in East Malaysia.

Ms Bryce told the crowd she had taken part in Sandakan Day commemorations in Sabah just two weeks ago and had heard the stories of people who had ‘risked their lives and livelihoods' to help the escaped Australians.

Ms Bryce said the murder of the Allied prisoners, who had ‘defied the odds' in simply surviving life in the death camp, was an act of ‘retribution' fuelled by ‘conceit and rage'.

“Some were left behind. They all perished, slowly or despicably at others' hands,” Ms Bryce said.

“The rest were hauled from near collapse and coerced by rifle butt along a gruelling, mountainous track on the false promise of pending food and respite.

“For 260km they staggered and reeled, many without boots, all without tolerable ration. Those who could navigate the nightmare no longer were murdered or discarded along the way.”

In the horror of the prisoners' maltreatment death was a lesson in honour that still resonated.

“They showed us a way of living that values personal effort, courage, restraint, humility, sacrifice, resilience and self belief,” Ms Bryce said.

“A way of living that embodies humanity among people, and upholds the dignity and worth of every individual.”

The Sandakan Memorial was organised by the Rotary Club of Lismore, which set up a committee to oversee the effort.

Committee secretary Brian Wheatley was praised during the proceedings for organising the event.

As the speeches drew to a close, more than 30 families of soldiers caught in the death camp sent representatives up to lay a sprig of wattle on a wreath placed against the memorial to honour the men.