Category: Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Categories: Commonwealth War Graves Commission | Oorlogsgravenstichting | World War II Cemeteries | Burma-Siam Railway | Thailand, World War II | Thailand, Cemeteries | Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Profiles are placed in this category with this text [[Category:Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Kanchanaburi, Thailand]] .

Location Information

The town of Kanchanaburi is 129 kilometres North-West of Bangkok and is best reached by road, along the National Highway which runs north from the capital. There are bus and train services from Bangkok. Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is situated adjacent to Saeng Chuto Road which is the main road through the town. When approaching from Bangkok, the cemetery is on the left side of the road, towards the far (northern) end of the town. A Commission signpost faces the cemetery on the opposite side of the road.

History Information

The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar). Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre. The Japanese aimed at completing the railway in 14 months and work began in June 1942. The two sections of the line finally met near Konkoita towards the end of October 1943 and the completed line, 424 kilometres long, was operational by December 1943.

The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma-Siam railway (except for the Americans, whose remains were repatriated) were transferred from camp burial grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar. KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY is only a short distance from the site of the former 'Kanburi', the prisoner of war base camp through which most of the prisoners passed on their way to other camps. It was created by the Army Graves Service who transferred to it all graves along the southern section of railway, from Bangkok to Nieke. Some 300 men who died (most from a Cholera epidemic in May/June 1943) at Nieke camp were cremated and their ashes now lie in two graves in the cemetery. The names of these men are inscribed on panels in the shelter pavilion. There are now 5,085 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. There are also 1,896 Dutch war graves and 1 non-war grave. Within the entrance building to the cemetery will be found the KANCHANABURI MEMORIAL, recording the names of 11 men of the army of undivided India buried in Muslim cemeteries in Thailand, where their graves could not be maintained. The cemetery was designed by Colin St Clair Oakes.

See also:

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
• Oorlogsgravenstichting (Dutch War Graves Foundation - Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

A

Arthur Alexander 20 Jun 1919 Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia - 04 Aug 1943

John Attrill abt Nov 1903 Gatcombe, Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom - 08 Apr 1943

B

Brabazon Badgery 21 Oct 1917 Leeton, New South Wales, Australia - 09 Jul 1943

William Bell 08 Dec 1900 Annfield Plain, Durham, England - 23 Nov 1942

Ernest Bolingbroke 17 Oct 1915 Toronto, Ontario, Canada - 01 Nov 1944

C

Albert Crane - 23 Dec 1943

F

James Forsyth 30 May 1920 Bellevue Hill, New South Wales, Australia - 15 Aug 1943

G

Lenard Gollan 20 May 1920 Mungindi, Queensland, Australia - 16 Aug 1943

H

Frank Hales 31 Dec 1916 Kaniva, Victoria, Australia - 01 Nov 1943

H cont.

Henry Hammond 08 Oct 1911 Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia - 07 Sep 1943

L

Jack Leemon 26 Mar 1910 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia - 17 Apr 1962

M

Raymond Madsen 26 Nov 1899 Warwick, Queensland, Australia - 03 Sep 1943

Ivan Manusu 10 Sep 1910 Mendooran, New South Wales, Australia - 07 Oct 1943

Francis McLoughlin 12 Feb 1914 Queensland, Australia - 03 Jan 1944

Emrys Meredith 26 Sep 1912 Treorchy, Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom - 09 Dec 1943

N

Robert Nason 14 Aug 1905 Roma, Queensland, Australia - 20 Jan 1944

P

Percy Peacock 27 Oct 1915 Mitcham, Surrey, England, United Kingdom - 18 Nov 1943

P cont.

Cornelius Pistorius 13 Jun 1914 Veghel, Noord-Brabant, Nederland - 21 Feb 1943

Francis Pye 26 Oct 1902 Howden Clough, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom - 16 Jan 1944

R

Willem Karel Jan Risseeuw 17 Oct 1903 Groede, Zeeland, Nederland - 31 Mar 1943

S

Lieven Schroevers 04 Jan 1909 Veere, Zeeland, Nederland - 26 Oct 1943

T

George Thompson 02 Jul 1911 Fairfield, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom - 19 Jun 1943

V

Pieter van Belzen 24 Nov 1900 Arnemuiden, Zeeland, Nederland - 21 Feb 1943

Charles van Blommestein 13 Sep 1903 Sidoarjo, Jawa Timur, Indonesië - 14 Apr 1944

Horace Vincent 19 Aug 1917 Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia - 12 Aug 1943

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