Chungkai War Cemetery
Kanchanaburi, Thailand
There are three cemeteries that are the last resting place of those who died on the Burma-Thailand Railway, the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery and Chungkai War Cemetery, both in Thailand and the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma (Myanmar). Little known and seldom visited, Chungkai War Cemetery is the smallest of the three with a total of 1,739 burials and is located about 5 kilometres west of the Kanchanaburi. The Kanchanaburi and Thanbyuzayat cemeteries were constructed after the war, with the reburial of the remains of the POWs recovered from jungle cemeteries along the railway. But Chungkai played an important role in the lives of the POWs throughout the construction of the railway and then as a major hospital after the railway was completed.
The first of two large cuttings constructed by the POWs from the Chungkai camp
Chungkai was first developed in November 1942, just a month after construction of the railway began. Initially a work camp, POWs (many of them, officers) were used as labour in the construction of the steel and wooden bridges at Tha Markham (site of the Bridge over the River Kwai) and further west at the Chungkai Cuttings (the first major cuttings on the southern end of the railway) and embankments. The camp was ideally located beside the Kwai Noi River which provided river transport for supplies and personnel up-river where the railway was to be built.
Initially, the camp consisted of a small number of atap (thatched) huts. These huts had dirt floors and bedding was provided using bamboo and a hessian type material. Being close to the river, the camp was subject to flooding during the monsoon season and mosquitoes were a constant menace. During this time a small hospital was developed to cater for the needs of the POWs and a small cemetery was established.
After the work on the ‘Chungkai’ part of the railway was finished, the POWs were moved to construction areas further north. The camp entered a new phase, a transit camp, where some of the POWs, after arriving from Singapore, would spend a little time before being sent north to work.
With the rate of sickness increasing in the northern camps, Chungkai developed into a large hospital camp. Those critically ill were placed on barges and bought down river or brought down by rail, and on arrival, were assessed and either sent further south to other hospital camps or treated at Chungkai. Soon, there would be 20 large huts used as convalescence, surgical, ulcer, dysentery, anti-vitamin and malaria wards. In all, about 2,000 POWs were housed at any one time. When cholera became a threat, a section of the camp was segregated and used as a quarantine area
In early 1944, after the completion of the railway, the POWs were moved back down and Chungkai, while maintaining its hospital focus, also became one of the transit camps where the POWs waited for their next travel movements. At this time, the famous railway doctor, Colonel Edward “Weary” Dunlop, arrived at the camp and remained until being transferred to the hospital camp at Nakhom Pathom in 1945.
Taken in October 1945, the size of the ‘death’ trenches can be appreciated
The hollow on the other side of the fence, shows the remnants of part of the ‘death’ trenches
An interesting feature of this camp was the drainage trenches dug around the perimeter of the camp. Built in 1944, the Japanese strategically placed machine guns to deter the possibility of escape. However, following the end of the war, it was discovered that the Japanese had a secondary purpose in that the trenches were intended as a mass grave after the massacre of the POWs occupying the camp. But the events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki ensured that this did not happen. The remnants of these trenches can still be seen today.
Aerial view of the Chungkai Camp (click on image to enlarge)
When the camp was closed in June 1945, 19,975 patients had been treated at Chungkai. In all 1,496 allied and Dutch POWs had died at the hospital and had been buried in the Chungkai cemetery. Concerned about cholera, much of the camp was destroyed by the Japanese.
After the war, the Australian Government requested that, where possible, all Australian POWs who had died on the railway in Thailand, be buried together in the Australian section of the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. Consequently, the remains of 119 Australians were moved from Chungkai. The final cemetery numbers comprise about 90% of those who died at the hospital plus some reburials from jungle cemeteries.
The Chungkai camp played an important part in the treatment of the Allied and Dutch POWs. The existence of the cemetery on its original site, is not only a dedication to the men who are buried there, but a reflection of the hardships and suffering that all POWs had to endure.
The entrance to the Chungkai War Cemetery
Immediately on entering, the visitor will encounter the Stone of Remembrance with the Cross of Sacrifice at the far western end of the cemetery
Route of the Burma-Thailand Railway - Chungkai is shown at the bottom right.
Source:
Chungkai War Cemetery, accessed 12th July 2024, https://www.ww2cemeteries.com/tha-chungkai-war-cemetery.html
17E.Chungkai, accessed 12th July 2024, https://www.uspowtbr.com/17e-chung-kai
Colonel Edward “Weary” Dunlop and Captain Jacob Markowitz working on a thigh amputation, Chungkai, Australian War Memorial, accessed 14th July 2024, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C990483
Chungkai (Kao Poon), Thailand. c. October 1945. Lieutenant G.H. Schroder, Netherlands East Indies Army, accessed 12th July 2024, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C43381
Tarsao and Chungkai, accessed 14th July 2024, https://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/freeing_the_demons/html/tarsao_and_chungkai.htm
Chungkai Camp and Hospital Camp 50K – Thailand, 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion Ex Members Association 2021, https://2nd4thmgb.com.au/camp/chungkai-60k-thailand
Chungkai War Cemetery 1939 – 1945, CWGC – Commonwealth War Graves Commission, accessed 12th July 2024, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=230117
Chungkai War Cemetery | Cemetery Details | CWGC, Commonwealth War Graves, accessed 12th July 2024, https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2035000/chungkai-war-cemetery