During the Japanese Empire occupation of Singapore thousand of ethnic Chinese was killed in the Sook Ching Massacre in an effort to removed anti-Japanese elements in Singapore young men between the age of 18 to 50 were to report to the Kempeitai, the imperial Japanese Army military police. The death toll was reported as 6000 but the official estimate range between 25000 to 50000 in February 1962 the civilians remains was unearthed in Siglap, Changi and Bukit Timah. In 1963 then our Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew set aside a piece of land in Beach Road for the building of a memorial dedicated to the civilians killed in World War II. The SCCC set up a fund committee for this project and the design of the memorial was conceived by our very own architect who won first prize in an open competition, the four identical pillars, each 70 metres high represent the shared experience and unity of the 4 major races of Singapore. The memorial was in January 1967 and officially unveiled by Lee Kuan Yew on the 15th of February who laid a wreath at the memorial. Every year on the 15th of February (Total Defence Day in Singapore, commemorating 1942 surrender of Singapore to the Japanese) a memorial service is held at the Civilian War Memorial to remember the victims of the war.
