Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Nov 02: The Mass Grave of World War II British soldiers, which is lying in a dilapidated state at Kadamachang Village of South Andaman may finally get some attention.
Highly placed source told Andaman Sheekha that recently a team of officers of Andaman and Nicobar Administration visited the mass grave site and submitted a report about the correct location about the mass grave for the Ministry, from where the details would probably be sent to British High Commissioner.
Situated at Kadakachang village of South Andaman, the dilapidated mass grave of about eight crew members of a British four-engine Liberator bomber, which had crashed in a marshy area near Kadakachang after being shot down by anti-aircraft fire by Japanese forces while bombing Chatham Island in daylight on 17 May 1945.
The anti-aircraft gun of Japanese Forces was reportedly located at Mount Harriet, the second highest mountain of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The mass grave once known to old residents of South Andaman, now remains completely unrecognized and neglected by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration.
After 2004 tsunami the grave site got inundated with sea water and completely vandalized by nature’s wrath.
Andaman Sheekha Team was first to reach the mass grave site of Kadakachang after tsunami.
According to reference available in a book named “A regime of Fears and Tears” written by Mr. B B Lall, during World War II, 10 allied bombers made a raid targeting sea planes of the Japanese Forces anchored in the creek of Kadakachang Village.
They inflicted heavy casualties and almost all the sea planes were destroyed. But this was the first occasion when the Japanese Anti Air Craft Guns brought down one bomber of the Allied Forces. Two of the occupants bailed out and landed at Hope Town and were arrested by the Japanese.
The bodies of the other occupants were found lying scattered far away from the debris of the ill fated bomber which were later collected by the Japanese and buried in a mass grave. Out of the two bailed out, one died afterwards but the other managed to live, inspite of ill treatment by the Japanese, but he was also done to death by injecting poisonous injection just a week before the reoccupation of these islands by the Allied Forces.
When British returned to Port Blair for the Japanese surrender (October 1945), the gravesite was marked with a stone and with the names of the British victims.
Sadly, the bodies were not removed from Kadakachang and were not reburied in an official war cemetery in India.
Even worse, for a long time the family members of the British Soldiers were not knowing the gravesite existed.
According to old residents of Kadakachang they had seen some scattered parts of the crashed bomber long back around the grave site. Before tsunami the grave was more or less intact but after tsunami the grave suffered heavy damage and has lost almost all its identity.
At present the grave site is situated in a marshy land behind a house of Kadakachang Village totally neglected.
The upper-lid of the grave with mark of engraved Cross is broken into several pieces.
After publication of report by Andaman Sheekha, there were some official correspondences to locate the site but till now no concrete steps has been taken to shift the mass grave to official war cemetery in India.
The present inspection of an official team of A & N Administration, under the directions of the Lt. Governor brings a ray of hope for the decedents of the crew members of the British four-engine Liberator bomber, who are still waiting for a favourable action in this regard.
