Death Railway

Japanese C56 locomotive near the Sai Yok Noi waterfall. The Death Railway passed directly in front of the waterfall. Remember what happened here:
In a recent letter, there was mention of "The Bridge on the River Kwai". I passed over this bridge in an open freight car as I was being sent to the Burma front. The following year, I passed over this bridge again in a covered freight car as one of the wounded and ill. What I saw from the railroad was the reality of the abuse of prisoners of war by the Japanese forces....it was called the "Railroad of Death"....I started my trip on this railroad on 11 March 1944. The train moved at a maximum of 20 kilometers an hour and stopped many times. It took 3 nights and 4 days to travel the entire 450 kilometers....On my return the conditions had worsened. It took 6 nights and 7 days. We passed large numbers of prisoners of war in the jungle along the tracks. They were badly exploited. They were all naked except for a fifty-centimeter-wide loincloth. These were made from coarse jute bags for rice and wheat. The peachy skin of the Caucasians was soiled by streams of blood. They moved and writhed, chased by Japanese officers wielding whips. I couldn't help but doubt that this was permitted under international law. Lack of education is a fearful thing. This showed the inferiority of military education, which produced officers who were lacking in compassion and ignorant of international law. - Watanabe Hideo, 64, painter, essayist, Kamakura - from a letter to the Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) translated by Beth Carey in her book, "Senso: The Japanese Remember the Pacific War" (M.E. Sharpe, 1995).

Ayutthaya Historical Research