The death railway

[Ian Adrian Millar]

THE DEATH RAILWAY

Come along young merchant seaman,
Far from your ocean home,
Help us build this deadly railroad,
As through Burma we shall roam.

Help us lay the rails of tyranny,
Come along you have no choice,
For we'll work and starve and beat you,
And we'll mute your freedom's voice.

Help drive the spikes that hold the rails,
For every spike will cost a man,
When disease and fever take you,
Try escaping if you can.

Come along young merchant seaman,
When your starving sick and weak,
Come serve Bushido's teachings,
We've a schedule to keep.

Forget your shipboard daydreams,
We hold no value on your life,
Except your slaving on this railroad,
Forget your home and wife.

Forget your fallen shipmates,
And forget your carefree ways,
The Emperor wants his railroad,
And you the price will pay.

You'll tell your friends, who won't believe,
The barbaric things we've done,
And you'll find a firm reminder,
In the morning's rising sun.

Come along young merchant seaman,
You've shared with all the rest,
In the building of our railroad,
A railroad built with death.

Ian A. Millar

Few know or remember that merchant seamen were among those who built the bridge over the River Kwai.

[Keith at Tregenna]

THE DEATH RAILWAY

Few know or remember that merchant seamen were among those who built the bridge over the River Kwai.

Cannot thank you enough.

Keith.

[happy daze john in oz]

We were in Thailand some years ago and took a train ride along some of that line on a tourist train that shows how it was all done. It almost looks impossible that they could have ever built it. The terrain is rough and unforgiving.
A replica camp where the 'workers' lived is a frightening sight.
Then to the Canchembary cemetery where so many from WW 2 ended up.
One of the saddest paces you will ever visit

[Steve pyrah]

Hi ian, i,ve just been down to kanchanaburi to have a look at hellfire pass and kwai bridge the museum at hellfire pass is really interesting i think the australian government fund the museum, i didn,t know merchant seaman were forced to work on the railway as i live in thailand i,ll do some research into it thanks for the info.
Regards steve

[Ian Adrian Millar]

Steve: Thank you for your note. If you will look up the sinking of the M/V SAWOKLA and S/S AMERICAN LEADER by the German Raider MICHEL you will find some details. As you will see these crews were first captured by the Krigsmarine and in due course were handed over to the Japanese where some of them found themselves on various slave labor projects under the Empire of the Sun. I had the honor of knowing a goodly number of these men and what they survived was amazing. There were many ships of many countries attacked and sunk by these raiders and a great many of the survivors ended up in the Far East.

Best Ian

[happy daze john in oz]

Hi ian, i,ve just been down to kanchanaburi to have a look at hellfire pass and kwai bridge the museum at hellfire pass is really interesting i think the australian government fund the museum, i didn,t know merchant seaman were forced to work on the railway as i live in thailand i,ll do some research into it thanks for the info.
Regards steve

Lou, a good member now sadly passed was a prisoner of war there.
He was MN but as far as he told us they did not have to work, but he said the Korean guards were far worse than any Japanese.

[Ian Adrian Millar]

John: I have heard that comment made by others regarding the Korean Guards mainly from American merchant seamen. I was not aware of the merchant seamen POWs not having to work as the ones I know did. Also quite a few who were put aboard Japanese transports which were sunk by Allied submarines with heavy loss of life.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Worth a look at:

Ms Willesden

https://www.cofepow.org.uk/armed-for...t/ms-willesden

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Ian.
A timely reminder for some, I will never ever forget the young bloke ,our neighbour when he came home after years on the Burma railway, you could practically read the paper through his ribs , unfortunately he didn't live long after. I will always call them Japs, as to me the hierarchy have never changed.
Des