"Bridge over the River Kwai"

Growing up Levi watched many old WWII movies with his dad, Dave. Today, we visited the namesake of one of those movies, "The Bridge over the River Kwai."

During WWII the Japanese invaded Thailand and needed to establish a supply route over land because the allies were successfully blocking their routes over water. The British, who were in Burma (Myanmar), had considered an overland railroad before, but abandoned the idea because the terrain was too difficult. The Japanese proceeded with the engineering feat. The Japanese had an almost unlimited supply of man power from their conquest of Asia coupled with their growing numbers of POWs. They were able to complete the railroad, but it came an extreme cost of human life. Around 100,000 people died completing the bridge.

We visited the Thailand-Burmay Railway Centre, which was a very well done museum detailing the rise of the Japanese before WWII, their invasion into Asia, the need for the railroad, the challenging conditions & the brutality of the POW camps. One of the most moving displays was one containing many railstakes, where each one symbolized 500 deaths. Jen was also really touched by the display showing the prisoners personal belongings (letters from their loved ones, carved chess pieces, diaries with faded drawings, etc...). The prisoners kept most of their records in the cemeteries because the Japanese would not let them openly have personal belongings. The Japanese would not enter the POW cemetery for fear of the dead.






After we left the museum we went across the street to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. The Thais donated this land so known graves of Dutch, English & Australian POWs could all be honored together in the same place. There was a plaque that said the unknown POWs were honored in a separate war memorial that was placed in Hong Kong. Levi visited that memorial last spring on his trip with Kirt Marsh.