RETURN TO THE RIVER KWAI . . . .  by Michael Hurst

In the last week of February this year I had the wonderful privilege of visiting my longtime good friend Rod Beattie who manages the Commonwealth War Cemeteries near the Bridge on the River Kwai in Thailand, and who is also the founder and director of the Thai-Burma Railway Centre there. Rod has been a real inspiration to me in my work for the Taiwan POWs.

I arrived in Bangkok on February 23rd and was kindly driven to Kanchanaburi by the driver of my wife’s aunt and uncle who live there. On the way we stopped at Ban Pong – the original staging center for the railway where the first POWs from Singapore were sent to start construction north to Burma (Myanmar). Then I wanted to try to find the old station at Non Pladuk where the first POW camp was constructed, and after a bit of searching we finally found it. From there we went on to Kanchanaburi and met Rod and Terry Manttan, the manager of the Thai-Burma Railway Centre.

     The next day was filled with activities in and around the war cemeteries at Kanchanaburi, Chungkai and the museum. A lot of time was spent exploring the town and the cemeteries with Rod and another of the staff – Derek Lawson, as my guide. It is wonderful to see all that Rod and his staff have done to tell the story of the Death Railway in an honest, truthful, objective and yet moving way. The museum is a gem and is a must for every visitor to Thailand.

One of the reasons for my visit was because Rod had invited me to go up-country with him – to further explore the railway as far as the Burma border. I was also hoping to see the area - and possibly some of the camp sites, where my two second-cousins John and Burke Cobon had been while working as part of the “No. 1 Mobile Force” which laid the rail line down from Burma into Thailand in the spring of 1943. Later they were lost at sea when the hellship Rakuyo Maru was torpedoed by the American sub Sealion in September 1944 en route to Japan.

So, on the 25th we packed up the Rover and headed out. We had a couple of other guests along for the first part of the trip and then we were on our own. We stopped at Hellfire Pass, and explored the area around Hintok Camp, the famous Three-Tier Bridge and Hintok Cutting.

We then tried to walk part of the old railway bed, but unfortunately, in their zeal to try to “restore” the old track bed from Hellfire pass to Hintok, the Australian Gov’t. has hauled in very large and rough rock and laid it down along the route. The idea was to make a nice walking trail, but the stones are so large and rough – not at all like the original ballast, that walking the trail has become very difficult. Where the original ballast remains there is no difficulty with the walk. I would not advise anyone to do it unless they have very good ‘mountaineering’ style footwear.

  We stayed that night in Sangklaburi and the next day we headed north toward Three Pagodas Pass and the border with Burma (Myanmar). On the way, Rod pulled the Rover off the main road and headed down a narrow dirt trail til we came to the site where the old railway bed had been. This was the area where my cousins had worked! We hauled the metal detector out of the vehicle and soon Rod had dug up several spikes remaining from that time which he presented to me to share with the family in Australia. I knew they would really appreciate that so much. Continuing on, we passed the sites of several of the camps my cousins had stayed in and then arrived at the border.

After spending some time looking around, we headed back south and soon Rod pulled off the road again. We traveled across country for quite a while and finally ended up in the area of the three Tha Khanun Camps. We spent several hours exploring the old rail bed for a considerable distance – we discovered a lot of things and were both happy doing what we like best – exploring for the evidence of, and uncovering history.

Later on the way back to Kanchanaburi we received a phone call from Terry saying that my mother had passed away. I want to thank Rod and his lovely family and Terry for their care and compassion during the hours that followed. It was a wonderful trip, and like I try to do here in Taiwan for the families of the former Taiwan FEPOWs, Rod has done for me. I am very grateful and looking forward to returning again.