Agenda: Remembrance Day Kanchanaburi August 15, 2024
On August 15, a Remembrance Service will take place to commemorate the end of the Second World War in Asia for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and for all victims who were involved in the work on the Thailand-Burma railway during the Second World War.
Book & Movie: “The Bridge over the River Kwai – Honour, Loyalty and Survival in the Shadow of War”
Today attention on Thailand blog for a world famous book. “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” is a novel written by French author Pierre Boulle, first published in 1952. The story is set during World War II in Thailand, where Allied prisoners of war are forced to build a bridge over the River Kwai. River Kwai for the Japanese occupation forces.
And that's where the gold diggers show up again!
I have previously written on Thailandblog about the Thai version of the Loch Ness Monster; a persistent myth that pops up with the regularity of a clock. Although in this specific case it is not about a prehistoric aquatic creature, but about an even more imaginative enormous treasure that the retreating Japanese troops are said to have buried near the infamous Burma-Thai Railway at the end of the Second World War.
In December, Kanchanaburi transforms into a vibrant place of remembrance with the River Kwai Bridge Week Festival. Celebrating Thailand's history and culture, this event pays tribute to World War II with a unique sound and light show on the famous bridge and much more.
A Thai in the German Wehrmacht
For years I have been looking for a book that can shed light on one of the most intriguing pages of Thailand's World War II history. The cover features a photo of a German Wehrmacht officer with unmistakable Asian facial features. This book contains the memoirs of Wicha Thitwat (1917-1977), a Thai who had served in the ranks of the German Wehrmacht during this conflict.
Thailand in World War II
In Thailand you see quite a few Nazi knick-knacks, sometimes even T-shirts with the image of Hitler on it. Many rightly criticize the Thai's lack of historical awareness in general and the Second World War (Holocaust) in particular. Some assume that the lack of knowledge was due to the fact that Thailand itself was not involved in this war. That's a misconception.
Boonpong Sirivejjabhandu, better known by his nickname Boon Pong, together with his wife Boopa and daughter Panee, played an important role in helping the prisoner-of-war forced laborers on the death railway from Burma to Thailand.
Agenda: Remembrance Day Kanchanaburi 15 August
Dear Dutch people in Thailand, on August 15, the ceremony will take place in Kanchanaburi to commemorate the end of the Second World War in Asia and all the victims of the war with Japan and the Japanese occupation.
The infamous road between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, blessed with hundreds of hairpin bends, is the only reminder of a long-forgotten piece of Thai war history. Barely hours after the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Thailand on December 8, 1941, the Thai government – despite fierce fighting back in places – decided to lay down its arms.
Bombs on Bangkok
In mid-August, the Allied military cemeteries of Kanchanaburi and Chungkai traditionally commemorate the end of the Second World War in Asia. In this article by Lung Jan, he draws attention to the at least 100.000 Romusha, the Asian workers who died in slave labor. And also for the Thai citizens who fell victim to a series of Allied air raids on Japanese targets in Thailand.
Gold diggers: In search of hidden Japanese spoils of war…
Thailand has its own version of the Loch Ness Monster; a persistent myth that pops up with the regularity of a clock. Although in this specific case it is not about a prehistoric aquatic creature, but about an even more imaginative enormous treasure that the retreating Japanese troops are said to have buried near the infamous Burma-Thai Railway at the end of World War II.
The heavily clouded sky on the war cemeteries in Kanchanaburi on 4 May was an excellent match for the commemoration of the fallen in the Second World War. On that occasion, about forty Dutch people expressed their appreciation for the fact that thousands in Thailand also gave their lives. Dutch, Australians, English (just to name a few countries) and many, many Asians. They are usually paid less attention at commemorations.
Those who stay in Thailand will undoubtedly also want to commemorate the victims of the Second World War and other wars. You do this, among other things, by being silent for two minutes between 20.00:20.02 and XNUMX:XNUMX Dutch time. New is that you can now also place a digital flower in memory.
NPO Doc: Trail of 100.000 dead (video)
Today, August 15, the Netherlands commemorates all victims of the war against Japan and the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies during World War II.
'Grandchildren commemorate the death railway' (video)
Every year on August 15, we commemorate the official end of the Second World War for the Kingdom of the Netherlands and commemorate all victims of the war with Japan and the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies.
Unique photos of war graves in Thailand
On 15 August, the Dutch dead of the Second World War in Southeast Asia will be commemorated at the military cemetery in Kanchanaburi. On the occasion of this commemoration, Lung Jan publishes a number of unique photos taken shortly after the Second World War in Thailand of military cemeteries, which have long since been cleared, where the victims of the construction of the infamous Burma railway were buried. This historically very important photographic material comes from the enormously rich and publicly released collection of the Australian War Memorial (AWM).
'The sun is scorching hot, the rain lashes in gusts, and both bite deep into our bones', we still carry our burdens like ghosts, but have died and petrified for years. ' (An excerpt from the poem 'Pagoderoad' written by the Dutch forced laborer Arie Lodewijk Grendel on 29.05.1942 in Tavoy)
Working on the margins of the 'Railway of Death'
On August 15, the military cemeteries of Kanchanaburi and Chungkai will once again reflect on the end of the Second World War in Asia. The focus is – almost inevitably I would say – on the tragic fate of the Allied prisoners of war who were forced into forced labor by the Japanese during the construction of the infamous Thai-Burma railway. I would like to take a moment to reflect on what happened to the Allied prisoners of war and the romusha, the Asian workers who had been deployed in this ambitious project that cost tens of thousands of lives, after the Railway of Death was completed on October 17, 1943.
The difficult processing of the Thai war past
Now almost 76 years ago, on August 15, 1945, the Second World War ended with the Japanese surrender. This past has largely remained unprocessed throughout Southeast Asia and certainly also in Thailand.
The Second World War in “The East”
On August 15, we commemorate the end of World War II in Asia. Although the war years in 'De Oost' were not inferior in intensity to what happened in Europe, the battle in the Dutch East Indies attracts much less attention than that in the Netherlands.
Last World War II Thai Air Force pilot dies
The Second World War ended 76 years ago when many blog readers were not even born. Last week, the last Thai Air Force pilot active in that war died at the age of 102.
Belgian diving specialist co-discoverer of sunken American submarine from World War II
A group of diving specialists have discovered the wreckage of an American submarine, which was lost in a Japanese air raid during World War II. For the time being it is assumed that it concerns the USS Grenadier, one of the 52 submarines that the Americans lost in that war.