Masao Baba
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Masao Baba was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, commanding the Japanese ground forces of the Borneo Campaign of 1945 in the closing months of the war.
Lieutenant General Masao Baba (Centre) at Labuan airstrip to sign the surrender document at the 9th Division Headquarters (10 September 1945)
Sandakan Death Marches
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The Sandakan Death Marches were a series of forced marches in Borneo from Sandakan to Ranau which resulted in the deaths of 2,434 Allied prisoners of war held captive by the Empire of Japan during the Pacific campaign of World War II at the Sandakan POW Camp, North Borneo. By the end of the war, of all the prisoners who had been incarcerated at Sandakan and Ranau, only six Australians survived, all of whom had escaped. It is widely considered to be the single worst atrocity suffered by Australian servicemen during the Second World War.
Sergeant Hosotani Naoji (left, seated) of the Kenpeitai (Japanese military police) at Sandakan is interrogated by Squadron Leader F. G. Birchall (second right) of the Missing Servicemen Section and Sergeant Mamo (right) of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section on 26 October 1945. Naoji confessed to shooting two Australian POWs and five Chinese civilians. (Photographer: Frank Burke.)
Nelson Short, William H. Sticpewich and Keith Botterill; three of the six Australians believed to be the sole remaining survivors of 2,700 POW of the death marches.
The memorial park in Sandakan stands today on the former site of the POW Camp.