As dozens of spectators looked on at 2 a.m. on Aug. 5, three flares lit up the night sky over this small rural community in New South Wales, Australia, almost the exact time three shots rang out on the very same day 70 years before.

Braving bitter cold, they were gathered in an open space to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the near-suicidal breakout from Cowra's prisoner-of-war camp of hundreds of Japanese soldiers.

The soldiers had been captured by the Allies in New Guinea and other islands to the north of Australia, despite having been indoctrinated under the Imperial Japanese armed forces military code never to be taken prisoner by the enemy.