Changi Lych Gate - The National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire, UK - Remembering FEPOW on Waymarking.com

Captain C.D. Pickersgill designed the gate and it was then built by the men from the 18th Division in Changi prison, Singapore. It was made in 1942 and marked the entrance to the camp cemetery. It brought a little piece of respect and dignity to the many funerals.

There is an interesting history associated with the Changi Lych Gate. The graves from the cemetery were moved after the war in 1952 to the Kranji War Memorial Cememtery with the Lych Gate moving to the British Garrison Church in Singapore.

British troops withdrew from Singapore in 1971 and the Lych Gate was dismantled and brought back to England to stand at the Queen's Division Depot in Bassingbourn Barracks near Royston, Hertfordshire.

On the COFEPOW website are futher details quoted below. This is from THE 18th DIVISION ROYAL ENGINEERS, Taken from "The Royal Engineers Journal" Vol. 106, No. 1 April 1992. "THE FATE of the 18th DIVISION ROYAL ENGINEERS" by Professor P.H.G. Allen BSc PhD AKC:
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'Earlier, at Changi, between Christmas 1942 and the departure of 'F' Force, another victory was won. Captain Pickersgill decided that the recently completed camp cemetery should have a lych gate entrance and drew plans for one. He enlisted the help of Lance Sergeant R C Ringer (287th) to design the Old English lettering and national emblems (leek, shamrock, rose, thistle) for its frieze and of Lance Corporals H E Broom and T H Whisker (287th) and Sappers R O W Duke (287) and H Ralph (288th) to carve them. All the materials had to be scrounged; the nails were made from barbed wire. After the war, the dead were re-interred by the CWGC at Kranji and the handsome lych gate was put into store until 1952 when it was re-erected outside St George's garrison church at Tanglin Barracks. As the British garrison in Singapore was run down, once again it went into store. There, fortunately, it was spotted by Brigadier Arthur Reading, Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, who arranged for its shipment to the United Kingdom. It now stands beside the A14 at Bassingbourn Barracks, Cambridgeshire as a memorial to the men on the 18th Division, in particular those who died in Changi.'

Then in 2003 the Lych Gate was once again moved to its special place here for all to see. It was reconstructed by the 39th Engineering Regiment and re-dedicated on 8th February 2004.

There is an information sign with full details of the Changi Lych Gate including a very evocative quote from Don Few BEM - Cambridge Yasume Club:

'To me the Lych Gate is typical of a FEPOW. They have both been stripped and bashed on more than one occasion, shipped back to England and still going strong. I hope that in its new and final resting place at the entrance to the FEPOW plot every visitor will walk under and read the wonderful inscriptions done in Old English some 60 years ago.'

Type of Resource: Historic Artefact Other from above - Please Specify: Lych Gate Date if Relevant: 02/08/2004 Relevant Position in Armed Forces: 18th Division Royal Engineers Captain Pickersgill Lance Sergeant R C Ringer (287th) Lance Corporals H E Broom, T H Whisker (287th), Sappers R O W Duke (287), H Ralph (288th) Reconstructed by the 39th Engineering Regiment Please see the gallery for further names Nationality: British Relevant Website: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   05/15/2014 Alancache visited it