Page 52 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2025 THAILAND
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A River Runs Through It latter days of the war. Japanese invaders
forced construction of the 258-mile rail line,
at a great cost of life, to supply its forces
For our generation, though, the most
well-known chapter in Thai history was cap- fighting in Burma. Sobered by its history, we
tured in the 1957 Academy Award-winning walked the bridge in the shimmering heat of
film, “Bridge Over the River Kwai” A fiction- the day, the glassy river flowing beneath us.
alized account, the movie brings to life the As with other places around the world where
death and atrocity reigned, we struggled to
brutal construction of the Burma-Thailand
Railway during World War II by slave labor- grasp what occurred here not that long ago.
ers and Allied prisoners of war. Errors in the The human cost was brought home at
movie included the incorrect name of the nearby Kanchanaburi Cemetery, the final
river, but as tourists flocked to the area, resting place for 7,000 who gave their lives
Thais changed the name to match the one in building the bridge and railway. (The 700
the film title. Americans who died are buried in Arlington
Our two-day stop in and around this National Cemetery in the United States.)
area in Kanchanaburi Provence northwest Many of the gravestones are engraved with
of Bangkok proved a poignant highlight. touching memorials to sons, fathers, broth-
ers and comrades by relatives and friends.
At lunch, we gazed at framed views of For us, both children of WWII veterans, their
the span, rebuilt after Allied bombs de- loss was palpable.
stroyed most of the “Death Bridge” in the
52 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2025
