In 1942, under Japanese occupation, Australian prisoners of war were sent to build an airstrip in Sandakan, Borneo, Malaysia.

As Allied forces advanced toward Borneo in late 1944, the Japanese forced over 2,000 Australian and British prisoners to march west toward Ranau.

After three years of captivity, the weak and sickly POWs were forced to walk through the rugged jungles of inland Borneo. Many died on the way; some were far too weak to walk; others were executed when they were found to be conspiring with the local resistance. Their bodies lay littered along the way.

Of the 1,787 Australian prisoners on the death march, only six survived the war.

Eighty years later, members of Rifle Company Butterworth Rotation 144 had the honour of following in the footsteps of their predecessors from Australia for four days.

Deputy Commander Captain Luke Gollschewski said it was humiliating and confronting for them.

“It was an eye-opening experience,” he said.

“The Sandakan Death March is not widely known and the majority of Australians do not fully understand its significance.

“We accomplished only a fraction of what they accomplished, and we had water, food and regular rest breaks. When you think about what they went through in even worse conditions, you wonder how they managed it all.”

“Throughout the walk, you felt a whole range of emotions, from anger at how they had suffered to sadness at the thought of what they had been through and what their families had to deal with at the end of the war.”

The Sandakan Death March lives up to its name and is not for the faint-hearted. For today’s soldiers, the grueling 260-kilometer journey with their equipment and fitness training would be a major challenge.

“Anyone who says it wasn’t hard is lying. There were steep climbs, slippery descents and dense jungle,” said Captain Gollschewski.

“It was a challenge for me and the rest of the company. However, the conditions forced us to think about those who had come before us and how much they suffered at the hands of the occupying forces during World War II.”

The soldiers of Rifle Company 144 Butterworth participated in a series of history lessons during their leg of the march to deepen their understanding of how the soldiers lived and died, but also to learn about the enduring spirit that lives on to this day.

“It was extremely sad, but in a way it also highlighted the resilience of Australian soldiers during World War II. The stories passed down by local people in Sabah show that the Australian prisoners never stopped fighting, even in the face of death,” said Captain Gollschewski.

“Throughout the walk you felt a whole range of emotions, from anger at realising how much they had suffered, to sadness at thinking about what they had been through and what their families had to deal with at the end of the war.”

The Sandakan Death March remains the greatest atrocity committed against Australians during any wartime conflict.