Kranji is one of many War Cemeteries which are under the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in countries around the world. It is situated on a hill in the North of Singapore Island, not far from the Causeway Connecting Singapore to Johor Bahru. Pre-war, Kranji was a British military camp, where a large ammunition dump was situated before the war with Japan. Close by is the mouth of the Kranji River where the Japanese Imperial Guards Division landed on 9th February 1942, the day after the landings at Sarimbun.

Following the Japanese occupation of Singapore, Kranji became a POW camp, with a POW hospital close by at Woodlands. A cemetery for prisoners was started at Kranji, and after the war, in 1946, it was decided to move war graves from Changi, Buona Vista and other cemeteries to Kranji which would be designated as Singapore's War Cemetery. Graves were also moved to Kranji from as far afield as Saigon where they could not be maintained.