Memories At Old Ford Factory

A rather small WWII museum but nonetheless unique in its contents. Some of the interesting highlights are the drawings of Mr William Haxworth. Not a painter by profession but his drawings (done in secret) portray the day to day life of POWs interned at Changi and Sime Road.

Just wonder how people can remain in their sanity while being enclosed in camps with horrible conditions. One of the ways the POWs do that is to inject humour in their confinement and peril. Some of the exhibits portray the lighter side of internship in Changi and you just marvel at their ingenuity and positiveness in one of life's darkest moments. How would the modern generation fare if they were to be thrown into the same mire and deep pit that these POWs had to go through. Sometimes the unassuming might just rise to the occasion and prove to be the most courageous of the lot. History has accounts of many people who experienced that.

To think further, these POWs were once colonial masters who spent their time drinking tea and playing cricket in the Posh surroundings of Raffles Hotel and the Singapore Cricket club and had to face the deplorable conditions of Changi the very next minute. Sometimes, infact many times, life can take the turn for the worst and the images injected at the MOFF museum illustrates that to the perfect degree.

Another highlight of the MOFF is the room where the British surrender took place. The room where all hope was lost was rather bleak and small. The table and chairs (not sure if it was the original that Yamashita and Percival sat on) retains its gloomy appearance. Very much the mood exhuberated on that fateful day. Staring for a few minutes into the room, you can feel the atmosphere of being here in 1942 when it all happened.

Interestingly, the Ford factory ceased operations after 1942 and became a factory producing Nissan military vehicles and other vehicles for the occupying forces.

What remains of the Ford factory today is just 1/10 of the original factory. Only the front portion remains, the back is now occupied by a residential condominium. Imagine living on the grounds of the historical building. Sometimes it might bring a chill down your spine.

We reached there at 4:30pm and closing time was 5:30pm. One hour was not enough to read the experiences, listen to the stories and view the well preserved documents. We left the place with a surreal feeling, wondering if all that was done in the past is forgotten by people today. Sadly, most of it is forgotten.

Anyway the staff manning the museum was kind enough to tell us that we could come back another time for free if we wanted to since we had only been able to spend a short time there. How thoughtful!