Old Ford Factory

The Old Ford Factory (also known as the Old Ford Motor Factory or Former Ford Factory) was the location where the British army in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese forces.

The new state of the art factory was completed in October 1941 but at the outbreak of hostilities with Japan the factory was taken over by the RAF to assemble fighters that had been shipped to Singapore. Many battles and skirmishes took place in the area of the factory and it was captured by the Japanese on the 13th February 1942 and used as their headquarters. On 15th February Lieutenant General Arthur Percival surrendered unconditionally all British and Commonwealth Forces in Singapore (some 85,000 men) to Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita in the boardroom of the factory. Churchill called the surrender the 'worst disaster' and 'largest capitulation' in British military history.
During the war the factory produced trucks and other military vehicles for the Japanese forces in Malaya and other occupied areas. When the British returned after the Japanese surrender in September 1945, the RAF used the factory to repair their vehicles.
The factory was gazetted as a National Monument on 15 Feb 2006 (64th anniversary of the surrender) and a museum Memories of the Old Ford Factory established.
There of tales of ghosts of Japanese occupants who committed suicide at the surrender of Japan.

The building is now a museum, named Memories at Old Ford Factory, dedicated to the Second World War, especially the Japanese occupation of Singapore.

For current visiting hours, please visit the website of the museum.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Anthony (Sharky) Ward (1, 2, 3, 4), W.wolny, via Wikimedia Commons (5)