60. Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

DON RAK CEMETERY

About
This cemetery, the largest of three on the Burma-Siam railway, is located near the site of the former "Kanburi" Prisoner of War Base Camp through which most prisoners passed on their way to other camps. The cemetery, designed by Colin St Clair Oakes, was created after the war by the Army Graves Service who transferred graves into it from camp burial grounds and solitary sites all along the southern half of the railway and from other sites in Thailand.

More than 5,000 Australian and British and 1,800 Dutch casualties are commemorated in the cemetery, including some 300 men who died of sickness at Nieke and Changaraya and who were cremated. Their ashes are buried in two graves in the cemetery and their names appear on panels in the shelter building. The names of eleven soldiers of the Indian army whose graves elsewhere in Thailand could not be maintained are commemorated by name on a tablet in the entrance building.

Poignant and Emotive
As I got out of the tuk-tuk, I saw a plain building entrance with three arches and beyond was a sea of green. There are many plaques on the entrance walls, each filled with words that stir the heart strings. It was a sobering moment as I stood there, reading quietly. All these soldiers, these men, died in a foreign land while serving their country so we could be free.

As I passed through the entrance, I beheld green - green as far as the eye could see with small grave markers in neat rows. Row upon row upon row. The beautiful manicured lawn is kept like a jewel from the water of many sprinklers; the graves are lovingly tended by the Thai people. Here, the weeds do not grow, the flowers on each grave are proudly looking to the sun as the men whose graves they are on were denied in their camps. Here too, is a peacefulness that is visible, a place of serene calm and an aura of acceptance.

An old timber cart sits under a tall, shady tree to the right, the water sprinkles in a gentle arch and one hears the hiss, hiss, hiss as it falls, people walk respectfully among the rows of graves, local people in wide-brimmed hats to protect from the fierce sun kneel and remove weeds, and all around, all I can see are the graves. So many graves. As I look ahead, I see the huge Memorial Cross, standing like a beacon of light. I am drawn to this Cross, it is as if an invisible hand is steering me to it, and as I walk slowly, oh so slowly, the tears come. My tears fall for what this place is and what it represents. And I cried - I cried for the thousands and thousands of men who died - men who would never see their children grow, would never hear the sound of birds singing, men who gave the greatest gift a man can give - their life.

I cried for the waste of so many human lives what was it for? What is war ever for and about? Here in this quiet place, take time to reflect on the tragedy of war, for the suffering and futility which in the end, solves nothing. For there will always be an end and when that end comes we have to ask why?

Above: Entrance
The cemetery is on Saeng Chuto Road, opposite the Railway Station, about 1 km from Kanchanaburi city. The cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Above: Lest We Forget

Above: Commemorating the Indian forces

Above: Gift of the Thai people

Above: Inscription in three languages

The inscription reads in English, Thai and Dutch:
"After entering the Second World War in December 1941, the Japanese forces quickly overran most of South East Asia. In 1942, in order to find a shorter and more secure line of supply between Burma and Siam (now Thailand), the Japanese decided to use prisoners of war and civilian labour to build a single line railway to link existing railheads at Thanbyuzayat in the west and Ban Pong in the east. Two forces, one based in Siam and one in Burma, worked from opposite ends of the line, meeting at Konkuita in October 1943. The project cost the lives of approximately 15,000 prisoners of war and 100,000 civilians as a result of sickness, malnutrition, exhaustion and mistreatment.

This cemetery, the largest of three on the Burma-Siam railway, is located near the site of the former "Kanburi" Prisoner of War Base Camp through which most prisoners passed on their way to other camps. The cemetery, designed by Colin St Clair Oakes, was created after the war by the Army Graves Service who transferred graves into it from camp burial grounds and solitary sites all along the southern half of the railway and from other sites in Thailand.

More than 5,000 Commonwealth and 1,800 Dutch casualties are commemorated in the cemetery, including some 300 men who died of sickness at Nieke and Changaraya and who were cremated. Their ashes are buried in two graves in the cemetery and their names appear on panels in the shelter building. The names of eleven soldiers of the Indian army whose graves elsewhere in Thailand could not be maintained are commemorated by name on a tablet in the entrance building.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for the maintenance of graves and memorials in some 150 countries which commemorate around 1,700,000 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. Those commemorated here and elsewhere include servicemen and women of several different faiths and of none."

Above: Cemetery Register

Above: Worker at the cemetery


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ROWS AND ROWS OF GRAVES

Above: Maintaining the graves

Above: A time to remember. Requisite in pace

Above: Requisite in pace - Young men who died far too early

Above: One grave - one story. Requisite in pace

Above: Walking toward the Memorial

Above: Memorial Cross

Above: Wreaths around the Cross

Above: Looking back to the entrance

Above: 1942 - 1945
Tribute to Royal Dutch Army and Navy Personnel.

One thing that stands out is the age - so many were so young.
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The tragedy of war is that it uses man's best to do man's worst

53. Hellfire Pass

Hellfire Pass ~ Honouring the Fallen
My uncles were in the war - PNG, Palestine and Burma. At Grandma's funeral and wake, after a few beers, my uncles began reminiscing about old times. They spoke of Palestine, sang a soldier's ditty. Then Uncle Bernie said, "Jerry was alright, you could deal with Jerry, it was those little slant-eyed yellow bastards I couldn't stand."
He had been in Burma. He could not forget.

I went to Kanchanaburi not to see the tiger temple or ride an elephant or bamboo raft down the river, I went because of its history. And a brutal and terrible history.


A Life For Every Sleeper

Above: Original track work of the Death Railway





One POW died for every 32.6 metres of track.
There were 424 thousand metres of track.
13,000 died and are buried along the way.

Over 80,000 Asian labourers died.

For every sleeper laid it cost one human life
120,000 sleepers where laid.

Japanese brutality at its best.





Hellfire Pass - Honouring The Fallen

Above: Information Sign

At the beginning of doing this walk this sign reads
The railway has been cleared for a further four kilometres but no improvements have been made to steep or difficult sections. Only those persons in good physical condition should attempt this part of the trail. Walking time from this point to the end and return is 3 hours.

Above: Hellfire Pass ~ Tree of Life
This self-seeded tree grew in the middle of Hellfire Pass. Where once cruelty and death lingered, the appearance of the birth of a new tree gives hope. Tree of life is a metaphor for the livelihood of the spirit.

Above: Railbed
As you walk along this track today, it is a peaceful place with the sound of crickets and cicadas singing and the stones crunching under your walking feet. No-one who comes here shouts or yells - something about the atmosphere begs for the listener to be still and breathe in the winds of today which have overcome the trials of yesterday. It is not until you reach the memorials that you realise it is not all it seems it is not a pretty walk in the country but a living memorial to thousands of men who lived, worked and died many still in their teens or early twenties. Young men who never had the chance to live and learn about the joys of happiness which we take for granted.

So... be still take a quiet time and sit and just do nothing but listen to the wind as it ruffles your hair and the sun beats down overhead as it did oh so many years ago on others who were here first.




HELLFIRE PASS
Cuttings along the railway varied from shallow earth to deep rock. Konyu Cutting, or Hellfire Pass as it was known, is the deepest and largest on the entire length of the railway.

On 25th April 1943 - ANZAC Day - work commenced to excavate the cutting. A workforce of prisoners of war began the task of hacking back the jungle, removing the loose earth and drilling in rock by hand. Little machinery was available. Most of the drilling work was done by the "hammer and tap" men, a process whereby one man would hold and rotate a drill or "tap" while his mate hit the head of the drill with an eight to ten pound hammer.

 

Above: Sheer rockface - the hill was excavated by hand

'Pick up.
Carry 25 yards or more.
Up the bank.
Dump.
Walk back.'

'On jobs such as cuttings, Nips stood overhead and threw stones all the time irrespective of whether you worked or not.' - Reg Holloway, 2/40th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force.

Above: In Remembrance

When the hole was deep enough, explosive charges would be used, the broken rock removed by hand and the process began again. The process was slow.

As work fell behind schedule and "speedo" was called, the work rate intensified. Work shifts lasting up to eighteen hours drilled, blasted and removed rock in a continuous operation. The men laboured under intense pressure from the Japanese engineers and Korean guards at the height of the wettest monsoon season for many years. Such was the brutality that 69 men were beaten to death by their guards.

Above: In Memory
Many prisoners-of-war died from cholera, beriberi, dysentery, starvation, and exhaustion. On starvation rations - a cup of boiled rice or millet three times a day - if they were lucky, malnutrition was a big killer.

At night, the cutting was lit by fires, lamps or diesel torches. The eerie light and shadows of guards and gaunt prisoners of war playing on the rock walls suggested the name the site was given - Hellfire Pass.

Above: POW - Original photo
An original photo of a POW standing beside the primitive tripod which was used for levelling the ground of the Death Railway Thailand - Burma

 

Above: Hellfire Pass, 1944
Original photo of Hellfire Pass (Konyu Cutting) which forms part of the Death Railway, was a particularly difficult section of the line to build, not only because it was the largest rock cutting on the railway, but also because of its remoteness and the lack of proper construction tools during building.

Above: Hellfire Pass today
These rails and sleepers are from the official railway and were relaid in Konyu Cutting in April 1989 by the men of "C" Company 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment.
They were relocated to the current position in 2006.

Above: Memorial
One of the most poignant memories is of a plain little wooden cross that said simply "For my Dad"

Above: Poppies of Remembrance
This humble litte poppy was known as the corn poppy because it flourished as a weed in grain fields. The Flanders poppy as it is now called, grew profusely in the trenches and craters of the war zone. (WW I)
The red Flanders’ poppy was first described as a flower of remembrance by Colonel John McCrea, who was Professor of Medicine at McGill University of Canada before World War One.

Above: The Australian Flag

Above: Hellfire Pass
The plaque on the left is dedicated to Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop (1907 - 1993) and reads ~

Patron of the Association of and Surgeon of the jungle whose ashes were scattered in this area on 25th April 1994.

From 1942 to 1945 Weary Dunlop and his medical colleagues, in the Armed Services of Great Britain, Australia, Netherlands, India and the United States of America gave devoted service to thousands of sick and dying prisoners-of-war and Asian labourers who were forced to construct and maintain the Burma-Thailand Railway.

These doctors provided leadership, helped alleviate pain and suffering and above all gave reason to live when all real hope seemed lost.

To them we all give thanks.

"When you go home, tell them of us and say we gave our tomorrow for your today"

Above: Hellfire Pass Memorial
Of the 1,000 Australian and British soldiers who took 12 weeks to clear the stretch of mountain, 700 died. They worked around the clock for 16-18 hours a day to complete excavation of the 17 metre deep and 110-m long cutting through solid limestone and quartz rock.
The Hellfire Pass Memorial and Memorial Museum were set up to commemorate these fallen.

Above: 352 Steps
This is the number of steps to reach Hellfire Pass. Many are steep and climbing down and then back up face running with sweat sun beating down I look back at what was once one of the most dreaded railways in history - the "Death Railway" and ask how could so much human suffering and atrocity be caused by one human being to another?

Above: Peace Vessel - Peter Rushforth
Peter Rushforth was a prisoner of war on the Burma Thailand Railway. In 1946 he commenced training as a potter with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. His work is represented in the Australian National Gallery and Australian state and regional galleries as well as private collections all over the world.

Above: Memorial Museum
The Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum complex is an Australian built complex decicated to the memory of all the men and women who worked and died making this railway.

Above: The Staff

 

Above: Grounds





Walk Through Hellfire Pass

In Remembrance of
All those who suffered
And all who died.