Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery

Amidst the sound of traffic and ongoing life is the final resting place of those who lost their lives during the construction of the Death Railway. The second you step inside, complete silence pervades.

The name plaques of nearly 7,000 Allied POWs are spread neatly across the cemetery’s landscaped grounds. Out of some 100,000 labourers who died during the construction of the Death Railway, 16,000 were Allied POWs, the rest were Thai and Asian forced labourers. Smaller and less visited, the Chung Kai Allied War Memorial (across the river, three km south of the Bridge over the River Kwai) houses the graves of 1,740 Allied POWs. Both are maintained by volunteers.