Kranji

Kranji came from Malay word "Buah Keranji" due to pronunciation by local Malay, it became "Kranji". It is a suburb in northwestern Singapore, located about 22 km from the city centre. It is connected to Kranji MRT Station and connects to bus service 170 for Johor Bahru.

Etymology
Kranji is named after a local tree, pokok kranji or keranji (Malay for Dialium indum, velvet tamarind tree). Its abundance has rapidly dwindled since the first half of the nineteenth century.

History
The first Singapore-Kranji railway from Tank Road to Kranji was opened in 1903. In 1909, the Johor State railway was opened and in 1912 both these railways became part of the Federated Malay States railway, which had been formed in 1901. After the completion of the Causeway in 1923, the lines were joined to complete the unification of the Federated Malay States Railway. Previously a Railway ferry service had operated between Woodlands jetty and Abu Bakar pier from 1903 until 1923. Kranji served as a military camp before the Japanese invasion of Singapore in 1942, and is now the home of the Kranji War Cemetery and Kranji War Memorial, commemorating the 30,000 Commonwealth personnel who died in Singapore, Malaya, Java and Sumatra during World War II.

In addition, it is now a prime residential area comprising mostly stand-alone properties. There are no towering apartment blocks, unlike most suburbs of Singapore. It is also an industrial area.

Highlights
The Singapore Turf Club operates Kranji Racecourse, the only horse racing race course in Singapore. It is located next to the Kranji MRT Station.

There is also a reservoir known as Kranji Reservoir, which was formed by the damming of the Kranji River.

Bollywood Veggies is an organic farming collective and information centre open Wednesdays - Sundays.

Kranji War Memorial
The Kranji War Memorial (Chinese: 克兰芝阵亡战士公坟; Tanah Perkuburan Perang Kranji; கிராஞ்சி போர் நினைவு) is located at 9 Woodlands Road, in Kranji in northern Singapore. Dedicated to the men and women from United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, Malaya, the Netherlands and New Zealand who died defending Singapore and Malaya against the invading Japanese forces during World War II, it comprises the War Graves, the Memorial Walls, the State Cemetery, and the Military Graves.

The War Memorial represents the three branches of the military - the Air Force, Army and Navy. The columns represent the Army, which marches in columns, the cover over the columns is shaped after of the wings of a plane, representing the Air Force, and the shape at the top resembles the sail of a submarine, representing the Navy.

The Memorial's walls inscribe over 24,000 names of allied servicemen whose bodies were never found, spread over both sides of 12 columns of the war memorial itself. On the Kranji War Memorial the names of 191 Canadian airmen are inscribed.

The grounds of the memorial is set on a hilly terrain with views around the largely undeveloped landscape, although signs of urbanity are clearly visible further afield. The modern skyline of Johor Bahru in Malaysia is also clearly visible. The grounds are immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and accessible only from Woodlands Road, the same road that the invading Japanese Imperial Guards had marched down on 9 February 1942.

Kranji War Memorial and Cemetery has been included into the photographic archive by the War Graves Photographic Project in association with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Each individual grave has been recorded together with each and every column on the memorials.

Kranji War Cemetery
The Kranji War Cemetery (Tanah Perkuburan Perang Kranji) is located in Kranji, Singapore, and is the final resting place for Allied soldiers who perished during the Battle of Singapore and the subsequent Japanese occupation of the island from 1942–1945 and in other parts of Southeast Asia during World War II. The War Cemetery is the final resting place for 4,461 World War II allied servicemen in marked graves laid out in rows on maintained and manicured lawns. Over 850 of the graves were unidentified.

Towards the northern end of the cemetery grounds is the state cemetery and burial grounds for Yusof Ishak and Benjamin Sheares, the first and the second President of Singapore. To the west is the military graves for the Commonwealth of Nations soldiers who died during the Konfrontasi and the Malayan Communist Insurgency periods. 69 Chinese servicemen who served as the members of the Commonwealth forces and who were killed by the Japanese in February 1942 were buried in the Chinese memorial. There are 64 World War I headstones, of which three commemorative casualties known to have buried elsewhere but whose graves could not be found on concentration, together with Saigon.

Previously a hospital burial ground during the Japanese Occupation period, it became a military cemetery at the end of the war. Military servicemen buried elsewhere in Singapore were exhumed and reburied at the memorial. The Indian Soldiers' were not buried at the Kranji War Memorial as they were supposed to be cremated.Instead their names were engraved on the memorial walls.

History
The Kranji area was previously a military camp. At the time of the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the area was in use as an ammunition magazine. After the fall of Singapore, the Japanese established a prisoner-of-war camp at Kranji and a hospital nearby at Woodlands. After the war, In 1946, it was decided that Kranji would be designated as Singapore's War Cemetery so the small cemetery at Kranji was developed into a permanent war cemetery and subsequently war graves from Buona Vista, Changi, and other cemeteries were removed and re-interred at Kranji. .

The site was expanded by the concentration of graves from surrounding areas and from Saigon in then-French Indochina (now Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam).

Colin St Clair Oakes designed the Singapore Memorial and the War Cemetery, and the memorial was unveiled on 2 March 1957 by Sir Robert Black, who was a former a prisoner of war of the Japanese and at the time of the unveiling was then the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Singapore.

Special memorials
Special memorials exist to commemorate specific deaths or graves that could not be found. These memorials are mainly clustered around the main Singapore Memorial.

Singapore Memorial
The Singapore Memorial, known locally as the Kranji War Memorial, stands over the war cemetery with the names of 24,346 Allied soldiers inscribed on its walls.

Singapore (Unmaintainable Graves) Memorial
This memorial commemorates over 250 troops killed in action in British Malaya whose graves, whilst known, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission were unable to maintain and whose bodies could not be moved due to religious conviction.

Singapore Cremation Memorial
This memorial is to almost 800 casualties, mostly from Undivided India, who were cremated as part of their religious beliefs.

Singapore Civil Hospital Grave Memorial
At the end of the occupation of the island, wounded civilians and servicemen were brought to the hospital in large numbers. Many of these died and a mass grave was established for more than 400 of the bodies. After the war, rather than disturb the grave in a largely futile attempt to identify any single casualties, a cross was built over the grave and the site was consecrated by the Bishop of Singapore.

Chinese Memorial
This memorial, located further from the Singapore Memorial, is a mass grave for 69 Chinese servicemen serving with the Commonwealth forces who were killed at the start of the occupation.

Kranji State Cemetery
The Kranji State Cemetery (Tanah Perkuburan Negara Kranji; Tamil -- ) is a national cemetery of Singapore. This cemetery is located at Kranji near Kranji War Cemetery. With an area of 2 acre, the Kranji State Cemetery is reserved for the burial of persons who have made a significant contribution to Singapore, and is maintained by the National Environment Agency.

Notable burials

 * Yusof Ishak – Second Yang di-Pertuan Negara of Singapore (1959 - 1965) and the First President of the Republic of Singapore (1965 - 1970)
 * Benjamin Henry Sheares – Second President of the Republic of Singapore (1970 - 1981)