ABOUT 10km away from Gemas town, along the Jalan Tampin-Gemas trunk road, lies a small bridge that spans Sungai Kelamah. This bridge is like the many others spanning small river and streams throughout the country.
But it, however, is steeped in history as it marks the site of the Battle for Gemas where the advancing Japanese Imperial Army was ambushed by the Australian Forces at the tail-end of World War II.
On Jan 14, 1942, a convoy of soldiers from the Fifth Division of the Japanese army was travelling through this stretch without tank escort. Many of them were on bicycles as they headed south. On that day, soldiers from the 2/30thBattalion of the Australian Forces, led by Lieutenant Colonel Frederick “Black Jack” Galleghan, had mounted a fierce ambush on the advancing convoy.
The wooden bridge was blown up as the Japanese soldiers were crossing it. About 1,000 of them were believed killed or wounded. The Australian forces too suffered casualties.
After the war, the Gemas Memorial (also known as Sungai Kelamah War Memorial) was built to mark the site of the battle and to pay tribute to the Australian soldiers who had perished. At the back of the memorial grounds, stumps of the timber piers that held the old bridge can still be seen, leading down into the river.
I painted this scene seated under a pavilion just outside the gates of the memorial ground. There is a small cenotaph and a historical plaque within the memorial grounds. Although the memorial grounds were gated, the gates were not padlocked.
Es Tung is a former NST journalist who is now pursuing his passion for art.