Australian in Thailand devotes life to 'Death Railway' POWs

[webfact]

Australian in Thailand devotes life to 'Death Railway' POWs
DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press

NAM TOK, Thailand (AP) — Wielding a machete, Rod Beattie slashes at tangled undergrowth and soaring bamboo to expose vistas from one of World War II's iconic sagas. Out of the jungle appear remnants of a railway that cost the lives of more than 100,000 Allied prisoners and Asians enslaved by Japan's Imperial Army.

As the 70th anniversary of the war's end approaches and its veterans dwindle by the day, the aging Australian still slogs along the 415-kilometer (257-mile) length of "Death Railway." With his own money, he maps its vanishing course, uncovers POW relics and with his vast database helps brings closure to relatives of the dead — not only those who perished building the railway, but also those who went to their graves never having shared their traumas.

Beattie acknowledges to being a man obsessed.

"The life I have given isn't just for them but for their descendants," he says. "Their children are now at an age where they have retired. They've got time to ask questions — 'Where was my father? What happened to him?'" And many, bringing along their own children and even grandchildren, are making what Beattie calls pilgrimages to the railway to seek answers, find peace and shed tears.

One daughter he escorted was able to learn for the first time exactly where her father, Pvt. Jack McCarthy, died on July 21, 1943, of what diseases and where he was initially buried.

Then Beattie took her to his final resting place, beneath a headstone brightened by a single poppy. Another daughter recently came fixated on whether wild bananas contained black seeds the POWs would suck for sustenance. It was something her father often recounted. When they found some, it seemed to authenticate and illuminate all that her father told her about his ordeal.

"It made her very happy," Beattie said.

Arguably the world's authority on this drama of inhumanity and courage in a green hell, this one-man band has also busted myths and plain inaccuracies that have accumulated around the railway. Some are drawn from a still-ongoing parade of memoirs, novels and films, from the classic 1957 movie classic "The Bridge on the River Kwai" to "The Railway Man" in 2013 and "The Narrow Road to the Deep North," a novel that won Britain's top literary prize last year.

He's driven, he says, "for history's sake. To give people a true version of the story. After I leave or pass away, who would otherwise know where the railway was?"

Beattie, 67, clambers down a steep slope where the track has been replaced by a rolling field of tapioca. Within 15 minutes, aided by a metal detector and pickax, he uncovered 11 relics under the reddish soil, including railway staples and bolts. He also gathered clues to the location of a labor camp, Tampii South, that he has yet to pinpoint.

Tampii South was among a string of POW camps along the railway, which the Japanese regarded as a strategic supply line from Japanese-controlled Thailand to their forces in Myanmar as Allied warships made the sea route around the Malay Peninsula increasingly hazardous. Completed in 15 months, the railway was an incredible feat of engineering and human toil.

More than 12,000 Australian, British, Dutch and American prisoners died along with an estimated 90,000 Asians, including Tamils from Malaysia, Burmese and Indonesians — some 250 corpses for every kilometer of track. Working with primitive tools and their bare hands, the prisoners succumbed to cholera, beriberi, starvation, executions and despair.

A civil engineer in Australia, Beattie arrived in Thailand in 1990 to work as a consultant in the gems industry. He settled in the western Thailand town of Kanchanaburi, a key railway terminus and site of the infamous bridge on the River Kwai. His passion was kindled by the history around him and his own background: two of his uncles had been killed and his father twice wounded in World War II. Beattie himself served in the Australian military for six years.

In the mid-1990s, with machetes and chain saws, he and his Vietnamese wife, Thuy, eight months pregnant, cleared 4.5 kilometers (2 miles) of rail bed at a rock cutting known as Hellfire Pass, paving the way for a memorial and museum there. In 2003, he opened the Thailand-Burma Railway Center in Kanchanaburi, both a research facility and a superb museum incorporating some of the thousands of artifacts he had uncovered.

Although Japanese atrocities are graphically depicted, it is not a mere museum of horrors. Japanese soldiers also suffered hardships and savage commanders, and not all are portrayed as brutes. The exhibits include rare photographs provided by a Japanese engineer on the railway.

Beattie has corrected misconceptions about the railway that had made it into a number of history books, including some that flatly state that Japanese guards killed 68 Australian POWs at Hellfire Pass. He proved that the guards killed no Australians there by going through a database of 105,000 records of nearly every prisoner in Southeast Asia.

Beattie found that Allied POW records were so sketchy that some relatives even had false information about where their fathers died. He said the index cards that Japan's Imperial Army kept on every POW sometimes have proved more helpful than Australian officialdom. He also dug into archives around the world including hospital and burial records, cemetery maps, regimental documents and diaries to reconstruct the tortured odysseys of thousands. He offers them to any who want to know, and has received decorations from Australia, the Netherlands and Great Britain for his work.

Beattie's ongoing work includes a detailed GPS mapping of the entire rail line that in Thailand is 60 percent completed. Earlier, logging more than 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles) on foot, he plotted the Thai end and some of the Myanmar stretch on a 1:50,000 map.

"Probably when I die," he says when asked when he'll halt his self-imposed mission.

Beattie's labors seem a race against the clock: The railway is vanishing along with those who built it.

Over the past two decades, he says, most sections disappeared, overtaken by the jungle or covered over by farms, roads and a large dam. In Australia, only some 200 ex-railway POWs are still alive; worldwide, the youngest one Beattie knows about is 89. Only two survivors attended commemorations this year in Kanchanaburi on ANZAC Day, April 25, the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand. In times past, there might be dozens.

But earlier in the year, 34 Australians, mostly children of POWs, gathered at the main Allied cemetery in Kanchanaburi town for a simple, moving service among the 6,982 graves. Some wore the medals of fathers they never knew: They were conceived before their fathers left for war or were simply too young to remember them. They sought information from Beattie.

It was the first trip to the River Kwai for Elizabeth Pietsch, whose father died in 2013 at the age of 95.

"He never talked about it very much, but when he did, tears would well up in his eyes," she said. "He went on to be a chartered accountant, a very successful man, but it was always there, the elephant in the room... It was the defining time of his life."


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-10

[lostoday]

Quote from OP, "More than 12,000 Australian, British, Dutch and American prisoners died along with an estimated 90,000 Asians, including Tamils from Malaysia, Burmese and Indonesians." No Thais.

[lonewolf99]

Not mentioned but Thais did die at the hands of the Japanese.

The whole business with how Thailand "sat back" and let their country get invaded is a strange one. I have tried to find out more on why and what really happened. My Thai GF from Isaan has a grandfather who is 93 years old and claims he spent 3 years fighting the Japs in the Thai army.

From what I have gleaned the Thais barely fought for 3 weeks ?

There was some Thai resistance to the Japanese invasion which mostly took place down in the south but there was also an invasion through Cambodia. Soldiers died on both sides.

As for Thais dying on the railway construction - not sure on that one.

I do know the French had an agreement with the Japs that as POW's they did not undertake hard labour duties and got off a lot lighter than the Allied forces.

In 1941 the U.S. refused to help Thailand before the invasion after Churchill told the Thais that an invasion would result in Britain declaring War on Japan. The Americans disagreed and the UK was not prepeared to go it alone as they were already fighting the Germans.

Pearl Harbour took place in 1942....

The article also does not mentions Sikhs that died on the railway. Approximately 90,000 Burmese and 75,000 Malayans worked on the railroad. Other nationalities and ethnic groups working on the railway were Tamil, Chinese, Karen, Javanese, and Singaporean Chinese. I doubt the conditions for them would have been any better than those of the POW's - heat Beriberi dysentry etc... The highest total is for the Romusha labourers estimated at 300,000 which were S.E. Asian "locals".

Thais did work on the railway but being in Thailand it was easy for them to "abscond" or go home basically.

another book to read on the subject is "The Forgotten Highlander".

[ratcatcher]

A brave, and dedicated human being.

His country should honor him and accord him all due respect when he finally passes on. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

[timmyp]

A couple of years ago I translated three of POW death certificates issued by the Japanese military during their time in Thailand. The three POWs were Australians. According to the records, one died of malaria, another from dysentery, and another from an air raid.

[apetley]

Not mentioned but Thais did die at the hands of the Japanese.

The whole business with how Thailand "sat back" and let their country get invaded is a strange one. I have tried to find out more on why and what really happened. My Thai GF from Isaan has a grandfather who is 93 years old and claims he spent 3 years fighting the Japs in the Thai army.

From what I have gleaned the Thais barely fought for 3 weeks ?

There was some Thai resistance to the Japanese invasion which mostly took place down in the south but there was also an invasion through Cambodia. Soldiers died on both sides.

As for Thais dying on the railway construction - not sure on that one.

I do know the French had an agreement with the Japs that as POW's they did not undertake hard labour duties and got off a lot lighter than the Allied forces.

In 1941 the U.S. refused to help Thailand before the invasion after Churchill told the Thais that an invasion would result in Britain declaring War on Japan. The Americans disagreed and the UK was not prepeared to go it alone as they were already fighting the Germans.

Pearl Harbour took place in 1942....

The article also does not mentions Sikhs that died on the railway. Approximately 90,000 Burmese and 75,000 Malayans worked on the railroad. Other nationalities and ethnic groups working on the railway were Tamil, Chinese, Karen, Javanese, and Singaporean Chinese. I doubt the conditions for them would have been any better than those of the POW's - heat Beriberi dysentry etc... The highest total is for the Romusha labourers estimated at 300,000 which were S.E. Asian "locals".

Thais did work on the railway but being in Thailand it was easy for them to "abscond" or go home basically.

another book to read on the subject is "The Forgotten Highlander".

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour was on Dec 7th 1941.

[Chicog]

I have nothing but admiration for this man.

We are nearing the point where there will no longer be any living survivors of the second world war, and it's people like him who keep their memories alive.

[lostoday]

Not mentioned but Thais did die at the hands of the Japanese.

The whole business with how Thailand "sat back" and let their country get invaded is a strange one. I have tried to find out more on why and what really happened. My Thai GF from Isaan has a grandfather who is 93 years old and claims he spent 3 years fighting the Japs in the Thai army.

From what I have gleaned the Thais barely fought for 3 weeks ?

There was some Thai resistance to the Japanese invasion which mostly took place down in the south but there was also an invasion through Cambodia. Soldiers died on both sides.

As for Thais dying on the railway construction - not sure on that one.

I do know the French had an agreement with the Japs that as POW's they did not undertake hard labour duties and got off a lot lighter than the Allied forces.

In 1941 the U.S. refused to help Thailand before the invasion after Churchill told the Thais that an invasion would result in Britain declaring War on Japan. The Americans disagreed and the UK was not prepeared to go it alone as they were already fighting the Germans.

Pearl Harbour took place in 1942....

The article also does not mentions Sikhs that died on the railway. Approximately 90,000 Burmese and 75,000 Malayans worked on the railroad. Other nationalities and ethnic groups working on the railway were Tamil, Chinese, Karen, Javanese, and Singaporean Chinese. I doubt the conditions for them would have been any better than those of the POW's - heat Beriberi dysentry etc... The highest total is for the Romusha labourers estimated at 300,000 which were S.E. Asian "locals".

Thais did work on the railway but being in Thailand it was easy for them to "abscond" or go home basically.

another book to read on the subject is "The Forgotten Highlander".

Thais fought the Japanese on a limited basis for 5 hours not three weeks.

Thai troops initially opposed the Japanese invasion, but five hours after it received the Japanese ultimatum, the Thai cabinet ordered Thai troops to stop firing.

A Treaty of alliance was signed between Thailand and Japan on December 21, 1941, and on January 25, 1942 Thailand declared war on the United States and Great Britain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan%E2%80%93Thailand_relations#World_War_II:_occupation_and_alliance

The Thais invaded Burma so maybe gramps fought there and confused the Burmese with the Japanese.

The Phayap Army (Northern Army) nvaded Burma in 1942

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phayap_Army

[Emster23]

Good on him.

"Some are drawn from a still-ongoing parade of memoirs, novels and films, from the classic 1957 movie classic "The Bridge on the River Kwai"" which is more fact than fiction. US bombers took out the bridge with early version of smart bomb. Also "Bridge" was filmed in Sri Lanka (guess Thailand just wasn't ready for that subject yet). Number of Asians I heard died was about 100,000. I don't recall seeing any memorials to them during my visit a few years back. Guess one Euro type (include Aus & NZ) worth more than 8 Asians. Also on PBS program said Asians only had 3 with grave markers.

[Johnsy]

Beattie you are a legend, the Thai Burma death railway is as important to Australian history as "Auschwitz-Birkenau" is to the Jewish community. It embodies the spirit of the fight against a tyrannical enemy and of the suffering in that fight. Australia has a proud but sad history of being great warriors in times of conflict but also of being used and abandoned by our allies. Searching for the truth about these matters is often difficult if not impossible and being able to visit and/or understand the real nature of these events and places can provide descendants with clarity and closure. Thank you, from one very grateful Aussie.

[canopus1969]

This is why I am not sorry the Atom Bombs were dropped - my only regret was there were only 2, and not dropped earlier.

[English 1]

I will never forgive the Brutal Japanese.

For the first time in years I did not attend the Remembrance Day at the British Embassy last November.....

Because for the first time they it included the Japanese.....Disgraceful.

[English 1]

Quote from OP, "More than 12,000 Australian, British, Dutch and American prisoners died along with an estimated 90,000 Asians, including Tamils from Malaysia, Burmese and Indonesians." No Thais.

What I find difficult to understand is why Thai people like the Japanese..........

May have something to do with Money!

[Srikcir]

Death Railway - Thailand's first human trafficking event.

[SupermarineS6B]

On Dec 7th 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, and on the 9th of Dec 1941 the port of Klong Toey was full of Japanese ships and an aerial photo of Don Meang airport showed a large amount of Japanese aeroplanes...... Coincidence ????? I think not........ The sad part is, the Americans asked the British not to kick the Be-Jesus out of the Thai authorities at the end of the war........ I think it would of done them a lot of good....... Aung San also got his payback for collaborating.......... All too readily forgotten now.....

[Jimlove]

Respect to you, Mr. Beattie ...

Of course its very diff to find out exactly what part Thailand had during the Jap invasion - Thais always hide it and lie when they lose out ...

[Baerboxer]

What a great guy. Deserves some serious recognition from not only the Australian Government but all those Allied governments whose POW's and citizens were treated so disgustingly by the Japanese.

Would be wonderful if he could go on a lecture tour of Japan and show them what they refuse to teach, acknowledge or apologize for.

But will never happen of course.

[SupermarineS6B]

https://youtu.be/d3YIQ5C-XZE Very interesting facts at the 20:00 minute point....... Tut tut Thailand........

[Boycie]

'DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press' you should show some respect, it is Sir Rod Beattie

Reading the article with the word Beattie just doesn't do his story justice. Read it again with 'Sir Beattie', because this gentleman is someone special.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Boycie

[Rancid]

Yes he is doing and extraordinary job to help keep the history alive. I took my kids out to the death railway so they could understand some history, an eerie place in an attractive setting.

[lostoday]

Respect to you, Mr. Beattie ...

Of course its very diff to find out exactly what part Thailand had during the Jap invasion - Thais always hide it and lie when they lose out ...

If you can google you can find it. E Bruce Reynolds, the author of Thailand's Secret War: OSS, SOE, and the Free Thai Underground during World War II, the most comprehensive critical work on the subject.

[timmyp]

This is why I am not sorry the Atom Bombs were dropped - my only regret was there were only 2, and not dropped earlier.

Wonderful commentary for the 70th anniversary this last week of both bombings.

[ratcatcher]

Beattie you are a legend, the Thai Burma death railway is as important to Australian history as "Auschwitz-Birkenau" is to the Jewish community. It embodies the spirit of the fight against a tyrannical enemy and of the suffering in that fight. Australia has a proud but sad history of being great warriors in times of conflict but also of being used and abandoned by our allies. Searching for the truth about these matters is often difficult if not impossible and being able to visit and/or understand the real nature of these events and places can provide descendants with clarity and closure. Thank you, from one very grateful Aussie.

Not wishing to divert from this great man's story, but more to what the above poster brings up.

As a Canadian born in England, I have a great deal of respect for the armed forces of what were then the 'colonies or dominions' ie Canada, India, Australia New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia and all the other 'pink' nations who participated and died on behalf of Mother England.

Many of these brave troops were often lead by officers (and presumably gentlemen) of the upper classes who invariably purchased or inherited their commissions. Many were incompetent buffoons

Several movies have been made about these incidents, three of which I most enjoyed.

Gallipoli

Breaker Morant

The Light Horsemen.

[Baerboxer]

Beattie you are a legend, the Thai Burma death railway is as important to Australian history as "Auschwitz-Birkenau" is to the Jewish community. It embodies the spirit of the fight against a tyrannical enemy and of the suffering in that fight. Australia has a proud but sad history of being great warriors in times of conflict but also of being used and abandoned by our allies. Searching for the truth about these matters is often difficult if not impossible and being able to visit and/or understand the real nature of these events and places can provide descendants with clarity and closure. Thank you, from one very grateful Aussie.

Not wishing to divert from this great man's story, but more to what the above poster brings up.

As a Canadian born in England, I have a great deal of respect for the armed forces of what were then the 'colonies or dominions' ie Canada, India, Australia New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia and all the other 'pink' nations who participated and died on behalf of Mother England.

Many of these brave troops were often lead by officers (and presumably gentlemen) of the upper classes who invariably purchased or inherited their commissions. Many were incompetent buffoons

Several movies have been made about these incidents, three of which I most enjoyed.

Gallipoli

Breaker Morant

The Light Horsemen.

Understand your sentiments Ratty. But maybe you need to check when the British army stopped allowing the practice of buying commissions in the army.

The issue with the general staff and staff officers in WW1 was one of having disruptive innovation in weapons technology - and not a clue what to really do with it or how to fight against it. Most casualties were caused by artillery fire. The development in tactics had not caught up with the developments in weapons.

The second world war was somewhat different.

Modern historians have poured considerable doubt on the old "lions led by donkeys" theorists.

[starky]

Good onya mate. It is a great thing you do for the fallen and their descendants. Lest we forget.

[Basil B]

In the last few days we have had heard a lot about Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the suffering but somehow the the brutalities of the Japanese in WWII seem to have been erased from their history books.

No celebration of the release from captivity of those fortunate enough to survive the Japanese brutality.

[ratcatcher]

Beattie you are a legend, the Thai Burma death railway is as important to Australian history as "Auschwitz-Birkenau" is to the Jewish community. It embodies the spirit of the fight against a tyrannical enemy and of the suffering in that fight. Australia has a proud but sad history of being great warriors in times of conflict but also of being used and abandoned by our allies. Searching for the truth about these matters is often difficult if not impossible and being able to visit and/or understand the real nature of these events and places can provide descendants with clarity and closure. Thank you, from one very grateful Aussie.

Not wishing to divert from this great man's story, but more to what the above poster brings up.

As a Canadian born in England, I have a great deal of respect for the armed forces of what were then the 'colonies or dominions' ie Canada, India, Australia New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia and all the other 'pink' nations who participated and died on behalf of Mother England.

Many of these brave troops were often lead by officers (and presumably gentlemen) of the upper classes who invariably purchased or inherited their commissions. Many were incompetent buffoons

Several movies have been made about these incidents, three of which I most enjoyed.

Gallipoli

Breaker Morant

The Light Horsemen.

Understand your sentiments Ratty. But maybe you need to check when the British army stopped allowing the practice of buying commissions in the army.

The issue with the general staff and staff officers in WW1 was one of having disruptive innovation in weapons technology - and not a clue what to really do with it or how to fight against it. Most casualties were caused by artillery fire. The development in tactics had not caught up with the developments in weapons.

The second world war was somewhat different.

Modern historians have poured considerable doubt on the old "lions led by donkeys" theorists.

Absolutely correct, 1871, the Cardwell Reforms. I think I was trying to illustrate the ineptitude of certain commanders for example at the Gallipoli landings etc. No doubt the Crimea was a case in point earlier.

Anyway, thanks for pointing that out

[tigermoth]

Lostoday is correct. The Thais formed an underground force which harrassed the Japanese throughout the war. The Thai government allowed the japanese to use Thailand as a military outpost and Bangkok was bombed by the British on numerous occassions. Many Thais did die while being used as forced labour by the Japanese, mainly in food production and in service roles such as transporting food, munitions etc.

[lostoday]

Lostoday is correct. The Thais formed an underground force which harrassed the Japanese throughout the war. The Thai government allowed the japanese to use Thailand as a military outpost and Bangkok was bombed by the British on numerous occassions. Many Thais did die while being used as forced labour by the Japanese, mainly in food production and in service roles such as transporting food, munitions etc.

Thais were paid labor as far as I know. The majority of the Thai deaths during the war were as a result of the invasion of Burma ( I seem to remember that was a botched up operation). I don't know did they ever apologize for their part in the WWII to any of the men like the OP or the countries involved?

[lvr181]

On Dec 7th 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, and on the 9th of Dec 1941 the port of Klong Toey was full of Japanese ships and an aerial photo of Don Meang airport showed a large amount of Japanese aeroplanes...... Coincidence ????? I think not........ The sad part is, the Americans asked the British not to kick the Be-Jesus out of the Thai authorities at the end of the war........ I think it would of done them a lot of good....... Aung San also got his payback for collaborating.......... All too readily forgotten now.....

The wealthy and powerful of Thailand who do wrong always seem to get "forgotten". Never punished, just forgotten (or moved sideways), I guess the money trail MUST continue flowing.

Edited August 11, 2015 by lvr181