Thailand — Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery (สุสานทหารสัมพันธมิตรกาญจนบุรี), Sangchuto Rd, Mueang Kanchanaburi, Changwat Kanchanaburi 71000, Thailand

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

September 2015

Three war cemeteries are associated with the “Death Railway” — Kanchanaburi, Chungkai and Thanbyuzayat — and I visited Kanchanaburi.

During the Second World War, the Japanese built the “Death Railway” to provide a shorter and more secure line of supply between Burma (now Myanmar) and Siam (now Thailand). The railway ran from Thanbyuzayat in the west to Ban Pong in the east.

The Japanese used prisoners of war (Commonwealth, Dutch and American) and civilian labour (from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) or conscripted in Thailand (then Siam) and Burma (now Myanmar)) to build the railway.

Work started at either end of the railway, and the working groups met in Konkuita in October 1943. The project cost the lives of approximately 13,000-15,000 prisoners of war and 100,000 civilians. Deaths were due to accidents, sickness, malnutrition, exhaustion, and mistreatment. An estimated one in three who worked on the railway died.

At the end of the Second World War, an Allied War Graves Party spent over 12 months locating and recovering the bodies from the 144 railway prison camp cemeteries. The Allied War Graves Party moved all the recovered bodies to the three cemeteries. The Thanbyuzayat Cemetery, located at the start of the railway, took bodies from the Burma section. Kanchanaburi Cemetery received bodies from the section in Thailand. The Kanchanaburi Cemetery holds the bodies of 6,982 Allied prisoners of War who perished during the “Death Railway” construction.

The Chungkai Cemetery, near Kanchanaburi, was originally a hospital camp cemetery. The Cemetery also contains several hundred bodies from riverside railway cemeteries.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) maintains Kanchanaburi, Chungkai and Thanbyuzayat cemeteries with funding from the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand Governments.

The Kanchanaburi Cemetery is the largest of three War Grave Cemeteries associated with the railway. It is located near the former "Kanburi" Prisoner of War Base Camp, through which most prisoners passed to other camps.

There are more than 5,000 Commonwealth and 1,800 Dutch casualties at Kanchanaburi, including the cremated remains of 300 men who died of sickness at Nieke and Changaraya.

A tablet at the entrance to Kanchanaburi commemorates eleven soldiers of the Indian army whose graves are elsewhere in Thailand.

At Kanchanaburi, a memorial commemorates the 3,000 Royal Dutch Army and Navy Personnel who died during the “Death Railway” construction.

As with all CWGC sites I have visited, the Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery (สุสานทหารสัมพันธมิตรกาญจนบุรี) was beautifully kept.

Just inside the main entrance was a plaque.

The plaque said:

“In honoured remembrance of the fortitude and sacrifice of that valiant company who perished while building the railway from Thailand to Burma during their long captivity.

Those who have no known grave are commemorated by name at Rangoon Singapore and Hong Kong and their comrades rest in the three war cemeteries of Kanchanaburi Chungkai and Thanbyuzayat.

I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord”

I have visited cemeteries in Rangoon, Singapore and Hong Kong, and did not know they had a connection to the “Death Railway”.

At Kanchanaburi, there was a Wall of Remembrance for around 300 men who died of disease at Nieke and Changaraya. Their ashes are buried in two graves in the cemetery.

Walking around the amazingly well-kept graveyard, I found a worker maintaining the graves.

It sounds wrong to say that I enjoyed my visit to the Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery, but I did.

Walking around the cemetery gave me time to reflect on what those men must have experienced. It was strangely uplifting and comforting to visit such a beautifully maintained place.

The number of graves was overwhelming.

Foursquare: Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery (สุสานทหารสัมพันธมิตรกาญจนบุรี)