The 7th December 2021 (Honolulu time) marks the 80th Anniversary of the coordinated Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Northern Malaya. It would bring WWII to the Pacific, the British stronghold at Singapore would be lost and over 80,000 Allied soldiers became prisoners of war of the Japanese. Hundreds of thousands from both sides would die and untold destruction would occur.

In a report by British General Wavell to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Australian soldiers were singled out for criticism of their actions in the Fall of Singapore. A criticism that led London Newspapers to write “Australian cowardice led to the fall of Singapore”. But a closer look reveals where the real responsibility for the Fall of Singapore lies.

Each Anzac Day, in the pre-dawn darkness surrounded by jungle, more than 500 mostly Australians, gather for the Dawn Service at a disused section of the Burma-Thailand Railway, known as Hellfire Pass.