| Cheras
Road Civil Cemetery contains two Commonwealth War Graves maintained
cemeteries within it plus the grave of Sir Henry Gurney the High
Commissioner for Federated Malaya from 1948 until he was assassinated
in 1951.
The
Cemetery is situated south of Kuala Lumpur, to the left of Cheras
Highway toll gates. Entry can be can be from one of several directions
but normally it is found that it can be reached by turning left
into Jalan Kuari immediately after the toll gates, approximately
4 miles from central Kuala Lumpur. Crossing the car park, follow
the top left hand lane to the end, thus reaching the Commonwealth
Cemetery gate. The Commonwealth Cemetery is enclosed by a fence
planted with climbers and hedges and backs onto the new highway.
Our visit found us leave the highway just after a petrol service
station onto a short track which then arrived at a divided junction,
we turned left, keeping the highway to our right, and about 100m
along the track the cemetery could be seen above us.
At
the time of the Japanese invasion of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur was the
headquarters of the 3rd Indian Corps. Early in 1941 part of the
recently raised 8th Division of the Australian Infantry Force was
assigned to Malaya, a territory of strategic importance to Australia.
The headquarters divisional staff arrived on February 18th in advance
of the main force, which numbered some 6,000 men, and the divisional
headquarters and attached units were posted at Kuala Lumpur. As
the Japanese moved successfully down the peninsula a temporary prisoner-of-war
camp was established at Pudu jail, to which United Kingdom and Commonwealth
serviceman were taken before being sent to Changi Camp on Singapore
island. Some of them died, of wounds or sickness, while in this
camp and were buried in the Cheras Road Cemetery.
There
are 137 Commonwealth burials of the 1939-1945 war here. In addition,
there are over 600 non world war burials of servicemen and dependants
here, 5 being unidentified children of Gurkha soldiers, mainly from
the Malayan emergency. There are 649 graves under the care of the
CWGC.
There
is also a Roman Catholic Cemetery which is is a separate plot within
Cheras Road Civil Cemetery (no photographs as yet). The Roman Catholic
Cemetery is on high ground to the right, and will be found by crossing
the car park and following the central, narrow tarmac road to the
end. The Commonwealth war graves are to the left, just before the
Chapel. There are 11 Commonwealth burials of the 1939-1945 war buried
here and also there are a further 11 non world war Service burials;
a total of 22 graves.
[Extract
taken from the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission website]
A
searchable database
of graves is available.
Click
on an image to see an enlarged photograph |
