Equipped with a ration card and banana money, War on Wheels participants were made to line up for rations which consisted of sweet potatoes, bananas and tapiocas.

Sometimes, the littlest of ideas can go a long way and take on a life of its own. War on Wheels (WoW) is one such idea which was born in a 10-minute brainstorming session by the Yesterday.sg team.

Of course, the easy part was penning the idea down on paper but War on Wheels took months of preparation. From plotting the bus route, location recces and thinking up interesting activities to heighten the wartime experience, much thought went into the details.

Now that the 12 runs of War on Wheels has ended, we can safely say the experience has been both satisfying and bittersweet. There were fears that the tours wouldn’t take off (which explains the shamelessly affordable prices of $10 per person) or the participants/history buffs would scoff at our attempts to relive the World War II experience. But to our surprise, not only has reception been positive, but we have been overwhelmed by requests for re-runs of the tour.

War survivors, erm...participants ended their trip back to wartime Singapore at the City Hall building where the Japanese surrendered to the British.

Our fans had much to rave about the tour:

“I always felt Singapore not only lacked a variety of tours that brought people closer not only to Singapore’s culture, but also our history, no matter how young a nation we were. War On Wheels is definitely a representation of the kind of tours that we can have.” – hecate in blog post War On Wheels – a WoW experience

“Had a fruitful trip; worth the price. Had a different sensation compared to daily life…. Chris See”

“I came to this tour with only my knowledge from my secondary school years (10 years back). This is great! I made some linkages and for the moments of declaration and when peace came back to us. I can feel it. I felt sad when we surrendered, and triumphant and relieved when we have our peace back. Thanks for wonderfully told the story… Hui Ting”

“It was interesting and entertaining. Learnt a lot about Singapore’s past and places that I never knew existed. A tour worth sharing with friends.”

“It is a meaningful way to spend time with friends. A different way to spend Saturday…. Memories are painful but they are so important to form our identity. War is terrible but so is much of the world. Peace is precious.”

“I had an old friend who survived the WWII. He was one of the lucky ones whom the Japanese soldiers picked to serve the group sent to the beaches. He became a doctor so he can help people. He has since passed on but his story remains in my heart forever. It was very touching to hear it from the description of the beach scenario. He was grateful! The tour brings back a lot of memories, stories told by Granny and Mum. Hard times but it showed the resilience of our nation and people. Bravery! Wonder if our future generations can survive it.”

“Like a tourist in Singapore for a day, we have been led back in time to understand how Singapore was part of a very important piece of history. War is never happy and it hurts to know that now. While Singapore is liberated for a long time, there are other parts of the world still engaged in it. Peace should never be taken lightly.”

Much thanks to the Motion team and the guides for pulling everything together! To all our tour participants, thank you so much for being part of the War on Wheels! Do blog about your experience on this site! Do look forward to the next run of tours in 2010, more details will be available on Yesterday.sg so keep your ears peeled!