Burnt Japanese wartime literature, helmets among WWII artefacts found at Alexandra Hospital

Wary that surrender was imminent in 1945, Japanese soldiers at Alexandra Hospital likely dug pits, filled them with literature and set the books on fire to cover their tracks.

- Ng Keng Gene

One such pit was uncovered during an archaeological excavation in 2021, where charred Japanese wartime literature was found alongside items such as fragments of Dainippon beer bottles and what were likely Seirogan anti-diarrhoeal pills.

The hospital, which is currently being redeveloped, plans to exhibit these finds in a new heritage gallery, as well as incorporate salvaged building parts such as windows and door frames in its new facilities, which will open from 2028.

It will occupy a site about 13ha in size when its new buildings are completed.

The National Heritage Board (NHB) commissioned the 2021 archaeological study before redevelopment works began in June 2022.

Artefacts at least several decades old were also discovered by contractors on three occasions in 2023, with British and Japanese helmets and two Japanese water bottles among the items found.

The construction of Alexandra Hospital began in 1938, when the institution was known as the British Military Hospital.

Historically, it included a football field where military parades were held.

But a 1910 map shows that the site's healthcare use predated the war, as part of Alexandra Barracks.

The outline of a building, labelled on this map as "offices, dispensary, and malaria wards", was detected by a ground-penetrating radar scan in December 2020 that helped archaeologist Aaron Kao identify sites to be excavated.

Through the items uncovered, said Mr Kao, "we are able to see things that go unrecorded in history".

"We have stories of the hospital's architecture, we have stories from oral histories, now we have stories from objects - stories from the ground."

UNDERGROUND FINDS

The burnt literature was found underneath a concrete hard court.