Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson V.C.Print Page

The rest area commemorates Charles Anderson who was awarded the Victoria Cross (V.C.) during World War Two.

During the Japanese advance in January 1942, the 2/19th Battalion was ordered to the Bakri area in Malaya in a futile attempt to help stop the enemy. Following heavy casualties, Anderson took command of the brigade and led it in a fighting withdrawal towards Parit Sulong village. Cut-off, surrounded, and without air support, Anderson personally led attacks against road-blocks and enemy positions during the ensuing four-day action that became one of the most desperate in Australian military history.

At Parit Sulong Anderson found his decimated force trapped with no hope of relief. Finally, he ordered that the vehicles and guns be destroyed and surviving troops form groups and try to make their own way southward. He was later distressed to learn that the Japanese had massacred the wounded who had been left behind. For his command and exploits he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Anderson was taken into captivity on 15 February 1942, when the British forces in Singapore surrendered. He endured the misery and squalor of being a prisoner of war, commanding “Anderson force” on the Burma–Thailand Railway.

Location

Details

Dedication