Blakang Mati Artillery Barracks was named after its location on Pulau Blakang Mati. Also well known as the Blakang Mati Parade Square which was used by the British and later, by the Singapore Armed Forces Artillery Unit till 1972. This area comprised housing for the junior staff of the army, a church, medical complex, football field and also the main parade square which was often used for the army as well as for formal military occasions. Blakang Mati Artillery Barracks were built around 1904. Maps of the island show the British established forts and gunneries as early as 1860 and the army were stationed on the island in attap structures as early as 1878. The bulk of the soldiers stationed on Blakang Mati were artillerymen manning the coastal defence guns at Fort Siloso, Fort Connaught, Fort Serapong and Imbiah Battery. Being that Blakang Mati was the southernmost point of Singapore's primary territories the soldiers were stationed at Blakang Mati particularly to address the government's security concerns in protecting the stockpiles of coal. At the time of the outbreak of WWII in the Pacific (December 1941), Singapore was prized as the most fortified secure British possession in the East. When Singapore was attacked in February 1942 Blakang Mati was a target and the guns of Blakang Mati were actively engaged in fighting off the Japanese attacks, even firing overland during the last three frenzied days of battle. This was not enough to keep the Japanese at bay and the British surrendered on 15 February, 1942. The gun batteries on Blakang Mati were later destroyed or deliberately broken up to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands. Once the Japanese took over Singapore, Blakang Mati was used as a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Occupation. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, these roles were reversed and the former captors of WWII became POWS on Blakang Mati and were housed in the same barracks. After 6 months basic training, F-in-L was sent to India, here his Royal Artillary squad was attached to the 10th Indian Brigade and sent to Malaya as part of South East Asia Command. They didn't see a lot of action........but he saw enough. When the war ended, he remained in S.E Asia until early 1948, helping first with repatriation of allied POW's, then locals and finally Japanese POW's.. F-in-L had never been abroad before India and once he returned home in 1948 he never left Britain again....... I am now officially the keeper of the family archive...... a lot more of this if anyones interested....