Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

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.

How To Get There : The central Bangkok railway station (Hualamphong)offers weekend day trips by rail to The Burma Death Railway in Kanchanaburi. It does however stop at the main railway station in Kanchanaburi for approx 45 mins to let passengers visit the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. Exit the station and walk to the main road straight ahead. Turn left. walk 5 mins. Across the road to the right is the cemetery.