Lieutenant John Thompson Meiklejohn was a member of the Australian 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion which was part of the Australian 8th Division’s 22nd Brigade. His story of heroism while leading his men, is the story of the initial invasion of Singapore on the night of the 8th February 1942.

Within hours of the Japanese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbour, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Malaya (now Malaysia) both through Thailand and by landing on its north-east coast at Kota Bahru. Just over two months later, the British-led allied forces in Singapore would surrender.