KANCHANABURI, THAILAND - Cemetary

[PETERTHEEATER]

During my many years in the Far East it has been my honour to visit most of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in Singapore, Borneo, etc but the most famous are the two in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand, the site of the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai.

I am a frequent visitor to visit Kanchanaburi and through web connections have been able to photograph grave markers for relatives of individuals buried here.

There are two cemeteries, one at Chungkhai and the main one located in the town, Kanchanaburi; both are immaculately maintained by the CWGC.

I should be pleased to photograph grave markers for surviving relatives and a Search function for deceased can be found on the CWGC site here:

http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

This is a quadrant of the main cemetery:

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l366/PRACHUAP/IMGP0046.jpg

The entrance record:

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l366/PRACHUAP/IMGP0038.jpg

One of the few RAF graves:

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l366/PRACHUAP/IMGP0042.jpg

The infamous bridge:

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l366/PRACHUAP/DSC01365.jpg

Regrettably, the number of pressed Asian dead far exceeded that of the Allied POWs and they have few known graves.

[Robin]

Peter.

Thank you for your excellent input, a most impressive site. Most people in this country do not realise that such places exist, and we can only wonder at the horrors that these people went through. May they all now rest in peace.

Robin.

[airfields man]

Very nice photographs Peter,thankyou for showing them. Lovely weather too 8-) It's raining over here, bank holiday weather :sad:

[PETERTHEEATER]

There is a paradox. The original bridge was a wooden trestle type built about a hundred metres downstream of the slightly later concrete and steel bridge. The river at this point is the Mae Nam (Mother River) and a few hundred yards down stream it is joined by a smaller river, the Mae Nam Kwai (Buffalo River))

So, it was actually The Bridge over the Mother River but, when the famous film titled 'The Bridge Over The River Kwai (filmed in Ceylon) came on the scene the Thai government began to refer to the bridge stretch of river as the Kwai to satisfy tourist expectations.

[airfields man]

Somewhere I've got a photograph of the 'original' Bridge that a local chap gave me years ago after a visit there.

[PETERTHEEATER]

The remains of the original wood trestle bridge were visible at low river level in 1970 but disappeared shortly after that.

[airfields man]

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e82/airfieldsman/NO%203%20ALBUM/overhere0001-30.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e82/airfieldsman/NO%203%20ALBUM/overhere0002-25.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e82/airfieldsman/NO%203%20ALBUM/overhere0003-20.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e82/airfieldsman/NO%203%20ALBUM/overhere0004-13.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e82/airfieldsman/NO%203%20ALBUM/overhere0005-13.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e82/airfieldsman/NO%203%20ALBUM/overhere0006-9.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e82/airfieldsman/NO%203%20ALBUM/overhere0007-8.jpg
Just found these that were given to me from a chap in my local club. He went there in 2006.