Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

War graves cemetery
Details
Established In its current form, February 1956
Location Kanchanaburi
Country Thailand
Coordinates 14°1′54″N 99°31′32″E / 14.03167°N 99.52556°ECoordinates: 14°1′54″N 99°31′32″E / 14.03167°N 99.52556°E
Type Military Cemetery
Owned by Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Number of graves 6,982
Website
Find a Grave Kanchanaburi War Cemetery at Find a Grave
Sign giving both names and number of interments

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (known locally as the Don-Rak War Cemetery) is the main Prisoner of War (POW) cemetery associated with victims of the Burma Railway. It is located on the main road (Saeng Chuto Road) through the town of Kanchanaburi, Thailand, adjacent to an older Chinese cemetery. It was designed by Colin St Clair Oakes and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. There are 6,982 former POWs buried there, mostly Australian, British and Dutch. It contains the remains of prisoners buried beside the south section of the railway from Bangkok to Nieke apart from those identified as Americans, whose remains were repatriated.

There are 1,896 Dutch war graves, the rest being from Britain and the Commonwealth. Two graves contain the ashes of 300 men who were cremated. The Kanchanaburi Memorial gives the names of 11 from India who are buried in Muslim cemeteries.

Close by (across a side road) is the Thailand–Burma Railway Museum about the railway and the prisoners who built it.

References

    Media related to Kanchanaburi War Cemetery at Wikimedia Commons