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A Short History of the
'Three Pagodas Group'

In August 1995 a small group of British people undertook a pilgrimage to the Far East, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Allied victory over Japan. During that pilgrimage a few of the party were privileged to travel along a small part of the disused railway track between Konyu Cutting and Compressor Cutting in Thailand. Their escort was Mr Rod Beattie, the supervisor of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries at Kanchanaburi and Chungkai.
The disused railway track is part of the infamous Thai-Burma Railway, the site of some of worst atrocities, suffering and death of Allied prisoners during the second world war. Apart from the 2 cemeteries in Thailand, and the 2 others at Kranji in Singapore and Thambuyazatt in Burma, there is only an occasional plaque here and there to remind people of this most terrible chapter in recent human history.

Rob Beattie is trying to make up for the lack of any focus for remembrance and commemoration. With his wife Thuy he is establishing the 5 kilometre stretch of the railway as a walking trail, with a museum and library, both as a memorial to those who suffered or died, and as a centre for those of us who come after to carry out research and investigation into that terrible period. The museum and library will record, in one place, the stories of the prisoners who, under appalling conditions, slaved to build the embankments, bridges, cuttings and railway bed itself, while every day up to fifty of their number died from maltreatment, sickness or hunger.
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