Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (known locally as the Don-Rak War Cemetery[2]) is the main prisoner of war (POW) cemetery for victims of Japanese imprisonment while building the Burma Railway. It is on the main road, Saeng Chuto Road, through the town of Kanchanaburi, Thailand,[3] adjacent to an older Chinese cemetery. The cemetery contains 6,982 graves of British, Australian and Dutch prisoners of war, of whom 6,858 have been identified.[3][4]

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
War graves cemetery
Details
EstablishedIn its current form, February 1956
Location
Kanchanaburi
CountryThailand
Coordinates14°1′54″N 99°31′32″E
TypeMilitary Cemetery
Owned byCommonwealth War Graves Commission
No. of graves6,982[1]
WebsiteCemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Find a GraveKanchanaburi War Cemetery

History

The cemetery was designed by Colin St Clair Oakes and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.[5][3] It is located near the former prisoner of war base camp of Kanchanaburi.[5] There are 6,858 POWs buried there, mostly British, Australian, and Dutch. It contains the remains of prisoners buried beside the south section of the railway from Bangkok to Nieke (Niki Niki), excepting those identified as Americans, whose remains were repatriated.[3]

There are 1,896 Dutch war graves,[4] 5,085 Commonwealth graves and one non-war grave. Two graves contain the ashes of 300 men who were cremated after a cholera outbreak in Niki Niki.[3] The Kanchanaburi Memorial gives the names of 11 from India who are buried in Muslim cemeteries.[2]

Nearby, across a side road, is the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre about the railway and the prisoners who built it.[6] There is also a Dutch Roman Catholic church nearby – Beata Mundi Regina.[7]

  • Sign giving both names and number of interments
    Sign giving both names and number of interments
  • A closer look of a tomb of fallen soldier in World war 2 in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
    A closer look of a tomb of fallen soldier in World war 2 in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

See also

References
  1. Sriangura, Vanniya (23 February 2018). "Low-speed luxury". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  2. "Kanchanaburi War Cemetery". History Hit. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  3. "Kanchanaburi War Cemetery". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  4. "Kanchanaburi War Cemetery". Oorlogsgraven Stichting (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  5. "Kanchanaburi War Cemetery". Roll of Honour. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  6. "Thailand-Burma Railway Centre". Children, families and friends of POWs. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  7. "Ter nagedachtenis aan hen die aan de Dodenspoorweg stierven". Overijsselsch dagblad (in Dutch). 2 November 1955.
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