Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

The Allied war cemetery in Kanchanaburi town holds the graves of almost 7,000 Commonwealth and Dutch soldiers who died during the construction of the death railway. The cemetery is on or near where the main intake camp was located for the prisoners of war bought to Kanchanaburi to work on rail line. From this camp the prisoners were dispersed to other camps along the line.

Around half the PoW and local workers on the death railway died in the process - which of course is why it's called the death railway. The deaths were the results of accidents, disease (exacerbated by malnutrition) and the simple brutality of the Japanese and Korean guards. Most of the people were buried at the camps where they died. Some who died from certain diseases were cremated.

After the war, the Army Graves Service collected the dead from the various locations and reburied them on this plot, which was donated by the Thai government. The ashes of those that were cremated are interred in a small columbarium at one end of the graveyard. The cemetery is quite well kept, with neatly trimmed flowers between the uniform headstones.

Admission to the cemetery is free. The Thailand-Burma Railway Centre is across the street from one end of the graveyard.