Beneath The Civilian War Memorial Lies 606 Urns Of War Victims

I’ve seen the Civilian War Memorial, a National Monument of Singapore, countless times while in the area (like weekend brunch at Raffles City Shopping Centre or on the way to get my favourite iced chocolate from Waterloo Centre). After all, with four 61-metre pillars rising above the surrounding skyline, it’s one of those landmarks you'd notice even if you’ve never stopped to learn its story.

What I – and I'm betting many of us – didn’t know? This memorial isn’t just commemorating civilian victims of war – it’s also their final resting place. Beneath the raised platform are 606 urns containing remains recovered from mass graves around Singapore after World War II.

Once you realise that, those four familiar pillars and the rest of the memorial start to carry a very different weight.

Overview

• Official name: Civilian War Memorial
• Location: War Memorial Park, Beach Road, Singapore 189768
• Built: 1963-1967
• Unveiled: 15 Feb 1967 (which is also Total Defence Day)
• Purpose: Memorial and final resting place for civilians of the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945)
• Year gazetted as a National Monument: 2023
• Nearest MRT: City Hall or Esplanade
• Admission: Free
• Opening hours: 24 hours daily

IMAGE: NG KAI

Why the Civilian War Memorial deserves a second look

From afar, it’s one of those Singapore landmarks you recognise instantly: four huge white pillars rising above the skyline.

Like many others, I knew it had something to do with World War II. But if you’d asked me what exactly it commemorated, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you more than that.

So, how many of us have actually climbed the steps and taken a proper look?

I finally did – and that's when I learnt that beneath the raised platform is a burial chamber containing 606 urns of human remains recovered from mass graves after the war. This isn’t just a monument asking us to remember people who died decades ago. Some of the people it commemorates are actually resting here. So how did their remains end up beneath the memorial?

The bones and skulls from exhumed mass graves of those killed during Operation Sook Ching. | IMAGE: FACEBOOK/@GAN LI DA

Where did those 606 urns come from?

In the 1950s and ’60s, mass graves containing thousands of civilian remains were uncovered around Singapore. Then, in 1962, more than 40 burial sites were discovered in Siglap in an area that became known as the Valley of Death.

Many of the victims were linked to Operation Sook Ching, the Japanese military’s purge of people deemed anti-Japanese during the Occupation, which primarily targeted the Chinese community. Innocent men were rounded up, taken to execution sites and buried in unmarked graves.

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SCCC, now the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry) stepped in to oversee the exhumation and eventual reinterment of the victims’ remains. But there was another gap that needed filling.

Singapore already had memorials honouring military personnel: the Cenotaph, itself part of another National Monument, commemorated soldiers of the two World Wars, while the Kranji War Memorial honoured Allied servicemen who died during World War II. But there was no major memorial dedicated specifically to the civilian victims.

In 1963, after the Government set aside a plot of land along Beach Road for a memorial park, the SCCC launched a fund to build one – even matching public donations dollar for dollar; the result would eventually become the Civilian War Memorial we know today.

IMAGE: NG KAI

Those four pillars represent much more than “chopsticks”

Some refer to the memorial as the "Four Chopsticks", where each 61-metre pillar represents one of Singapore’s four major ethnic communities: Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian.

While many Sook Ching victims were Chinese, the memorial was deliberately conceived to commemorate civilians of different ethnic backgrounds who suffered during the Japanese Occupation.

So the pillars aren’t simply four visually striking columns; together, they symbolise shared suffering and unity.

What to look out for when you visit

IMAGES: NG KAI

The burial chamber beneath your feet

You can’t enter the chamber itself, but knowing it exists completely changes the experience of standing on the platform. There’s also an empty urn on a pedestal within the four pillars, drawing attention towards the burial chamber below.

For me, this was the detail that made the memorial stop feeling abstract. Because these weren’t simply names or statistics from a history textbook; there were human remains resting directly underneath.

IMAGES: NG KAI

The inscription in four languages

At the base of the memorial are the words: “Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation, 1942–1945”.

The message appears in English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil; it reinforces the same idea as the four pillars: a reminder that regardless of race, it's imperative that we stand strong together as one Singapore to guard against threats to our safety and sovereignty.

IMAGE: FACEBOOK/@新加坡清史研究学会 QING HISTORY SOCIETY - SINGAPORE

Look straight up

Standing directly beneath the pillars was probably my favourite way to appreciate the monument visually. They taper as they rise and appear to converge overhead, which feels very different from seeing them from across the road.

As for the design? Back then, design firms submitted blueprints as part of an architectural competition for the memorial. Swan & Maclaren, the same firm that designed the Cenotaph, won the competition with their proposal of 12 parallel sets of sweeping interconnected fins forming a grand archway.

The initial winning design was later revised to become the monument we see today. Construction began in 1963, and was completed in January 1967. It was unveiled by the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 15 Feb the same year, which marked the 25th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore in 1942. Since then, an inter-religious memorial service has traditionally been held here every 15 Feb to remember civilian victims of the Occupation.

Wait, what makes something a National Monument?

In Singapore, National Monuments are buildings, structures or sites recognised for their national significance and value to our built heritage. They are gazetted by the Preservation of Sites and Monuments, a division of the National Heritage Board, which is why the title is reserved for places that carry especially important historical, architectural, social or cultural meaning.

As of 2026, Singapore has 77 National Monuments. Some are obvious landmarks, like the Padang, St Andrew’s Cathedral and Fort Siloso. Others are places you may have walked past without a second thought, which is exactly why this series exists.

One National Monument at a time, we’re here to uncover the stories hiding in plain sight.

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