The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (known locally as the Don-Rak War Cemetery) is the main Prisoner of War (POW) cemetery associated with victims of the Burma Railway. It is located on the main road (Saeng Chuto Road) through the town of Kanchanaburi, Thailand, adjacent to an older Chinese cemetery. It was designed by Colin St Clair Oakes and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. There are 6,982 former POWs buried there, mostly Australian, British and Dutch. It contains the remains of prisoners buried beside the south section of the railway from Bangkok to Nieke apart from those identified as Americans, whose remains were repatriated.

There are 1,896 Dutch war graves, the rest being from Britain and the Commonwealth. Two graves contain the ashes of 300 men who were cremated. The Kanchanaburi Memorial gives the names of 11 from India who are buried in Muslim cemeteries.

Close by (across a side road) is the Thailand–Burma Railway Museum about the railway and the prisoners who built it.

Bridge on the River Kwai

 

 Bridge on the River Kwai

Bridge on the River Kwai is a historically important one. The bridge is the most important of the Death Railway. The World War 2 by the Japanese army had captured Allied troops, including American English, Australia, Holland and New Zealand, approximately 61,700 people and laborers, the Chinese Yuan, Thailand, Burma, India, Malaya, Java, most of them. The construction of the railway line strategy. A route through Burma. One has to cross the path of the River Kwai. The bridge had to be built up. Building bridges and railway lines. Fraught with difficulties. The violence of war and pestilence. And food shortages. The thousands of prisoners died. During World War II, the bridge was damaged. Thailand has a new government, and repair. After the war ended the year 2489 until the present, be regarded as a bridge over the River Kwai. A symbol of peace.