For Japanese POWs it was terrible shame to be captured, they would rather die than this. They staged a mass breakout in which several hundred were killed. And some of our own men died for their country that day on Australian soil. They are buried at Cowra as well.
Cowra is now a place of international friendship and good will.
An appropriate post for today, considering what will happen in a few hours at Fromelles.
ReplyDeleteThere's a French and British war cemetery in Beirut. I'm going to find it one of these days.
ReplyDeleteOur friends left yesterday to attend at Fromelles, and quite unintentionally we ended up wandering around Lagarde yesterday through the French and German cemeteries near by.
ReplyDeleteThere should be one in every town as a reminder of what war really means to those on both sides.
I have difficulty understanding war
ReplyDeleteWhat an unusual display on the top shot! Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this piece of Australian history
ReplyDeleteI would like to have a tour over the Western Front sites. I might consider how I could incorporate that into a future European sojourn.
ReplyDeleteWhat a tragedy those wars and the loss of so many lives.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I know about Cowra but haven't seen this before.
ReplyDeleteHaven't been to the
Western Front but one of the most moving places I have ever been is Gallipoli. It really hits home to you the futility of war.
Beautifully memorialized in your photos. The bushes and tall white markers bring warmth to the scene.
ReplyDeleteThere are challenges to the layout of war graves, in my mind. Do we emphasise the individual, or do we emphasise the team? It seems that the team generally reigns supreme, at the moment.
ReplyDeleteYour top image, with those hovering perspective images created by the alignment of the name plates, epitomises the team over the individual. In a good way, mind you.
I know, having gone through this process with my own father, that government departments wish everything to be very very similar and regulated with regard to the remains of returned soldiers.
It does look very beautiful and heightens emotions each and every time.
Nut the individual is lost. And he has been lost. To his family, and to his friends. His death has more meaning, than his life had the chance to gather.
I know very little about the Japanese breakout in Cowra. There was a book about the effect of WW2 on the Japanese on the West Coast of the US (Snow falling on Cedars, if I remember correctly), and I probably know more about that than Cowra. *blushes*
Thanks for rebadging this post to contribute to Taphophile Tragics. I value your continued support, as you probably realise.