My most recent adventure took me to the province of Kanchanburi to learn about the Thailand-Burma railway system. The Thailand-Burma railway was built during World War II with construction starting in 1942 and ending 15 months later. The Japanese wanted to build a railway for a safer route for their troops to go from Burma to Singapore. Many workers were promised great wages and a great lifestyle when they were recruited from their home countries to come and build the railway. Once they got there and started working, things quickly changed. An estimated 60,000 POW's were made to work on the railway along with 180,000 men who were used as forced labor from neighboring Asian countries as well as Thailand. The conditions were horrible and the Japanese army treated the men brutally. Many of the laborers died due to the intense working conditions. Also, many of the POW's lost their lives due to cholera, dysentery and exhaustion just to name a few reasons.
There is a move, "The Railway Man" starring Nicole Kidman that is based on a British soldier that was captured and became a POW during this time.
I hope you enjoyed this BRIEF synopsis of my Death Railway experience. Take a look at the pics below. Oh, the most mind-boggling thing of all to me, is that this happened in 1942 so JUST 73 years ago!!!
Always learning,
Charmel
