War Memorial Park

The War Memorial Park is a 1.4-hectare park with open lawns in the Downtown Core, near the Esplanade MRT station.  In the centre stands the Civilian War Memorial, built-in memory of the many civilians who died during the Japanese occupation of Singapore between 1942 and 1945.  The impressive memorial was commissioned in 1963 by the Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015) and designed by Leong Swee Lim (1935-2002), one of Singapore’s most renowned architects.  It’s four identical pillars stand 70 metres high and celebrate the unity of Singapore’s main races: Malay, Chinese, Indian and Eurasian.  Every year on 15 February, a memorial service is held here, in remembrance of the victims of the war. It is said that more than 50,000 people were killed during the Japanese Occupation.