A steam engine now marks the western terminus of the infamous Death Railway.

THE Mon State town of Thanbyuzayat might not sound familiar to the ears of many Westerners, but it was the site of an event of historical significance with which many of them are familiar.

It was in this small town about 30 kilometres south of Mawlamyine that the Japanese army, during World War II, chose to locate the western terminus of Myanmar-Thailand Railway, built to link existing rail lines to supply the army as it moved west into Myanmar.

The project was completed in the course of 16 months in 1942 and 1943 using Allied prisoners of war as a source of labour. An estimated 16,000 of them died during the construction, earning the 415 kilometres of track the nickname Death Railway.

The episode was made famous in the West by the 1957 movie Bridge on the River Kwai, based on Pierre Boulle’s book of the same name, prompting thousands of tourists every year to visit the eastern end in Nong Pladuk, Thailand.

On the other hand, foreign visitors to the western end in Thanbyuzayat remain few because of its remoteness from Yangon, although the number has doubled in the past year, said the manager of the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, U Thet Mon.

“Last year the number hit more than 1000, which is double the number in previous years,” he said.

U Thet Mon attributed the increase to the peaceful surroundings; the improved transportation to the area following the opening in early 2005 of the Thanlwin Bridge (Mawlamyine), now the country’s longest; and the availability of more information about the site on the internet.

Most of the visitors, who come between September and May, are relatives of prisoners, he said.

“They visit the memorial in Thailand and then continue on to here,” he said. “Some are looking for the name of a relative who died during the war, and sometimes they find it in the cemetery.”

Of the estimated 16,000 prisoners who lost their lives on the Death Railway project, more than 3700 are buried at Thanbyuzayat, with another 10,000 interred in Thailand.

The Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, which is located on 18 acres of land, was opened on December 18, 1946. It holds the remains of prisoners who died working on the 115-kilometre stretch of railway between Thanbyuzayat and Three Pagoda Pass on the Thai border.

Among them are more than 1600 British, 1335 Australians, 621 Dutch, 79 Malaysians and three New Zealanders, with the rest from India and Canada. Many of the tombstones include memorial inscription, such as “His duty nobly done, gone but not forgotten”.

U Thet Mon said there are 2500 cemeteries in 149 countries around the world in which more than three million Allied prisoners of war are buried. Three of them are located in Myanmar: Thanbyuzayat, Htaukkyant north of Yangon, and near the Hanthawaddy roundabout in Sanchaung township, Yangon.

He added that some visitors to Thanbyuzayat have suggested that a pagoda be built in the area for Myanmar citizens who died on the project for whom there are no records of their passing.