Forced Labor at the Burma - Thailand Railway
A total of 9, 500 Australian prisoners were forced to work under horrendous conditions while at the construction of the Burma - Thailand Railway. Of the 9,500 Australians, 2, 646 of them died while working on the railway, this how it was given the name of 'The Railway of Death'.
Beatings, harsh weather limited food to the point of starvation) and little water are no conditions any man or women would be happy to work under, throw in an unknown country and disease and now you have the Burma - Thailand Railway. incomparison constructing a railway line in America was considered dangerous, but work on the Burma railway was ridiculous. Often prisoners were left where they fell injured pOWs were ignored by their Japanese guards, their attitude was if you couldn't work you wouldn't be feed or looked after. This attitude again was lined to their code of honour beliefs that so strongly influenced their society. Because many POWs surrendered they were considered by the Japanese to have no honour, therefore deserved no respect or mercy.
Signalman James Ling at the Burma-Thai Railway suffered by watching one of his mates lose the will to live. He and some other comrades said ''they wouldn't have the guts (to give up)''.
Beatings, harsh weather limited food to the point of starvation) and little water are no conditions any man or women would be happy to work under, throw in an unknown country and disease and now you have the Burma - Thailand Railway. incomparison constructing a railway line in America was considered dangerous, but work on the Burma railway was ridiculous. Often prisoners were left where they fell injured pOWs were ignored by their Japanese guards, their attitude was if you couldn't work you wouldn't be feed or looked after. This attitude again was lined to their code of honour beliefs that so strongly influenced their society. Because many POWs surrendered they were considered by the Japanese to have no honour, therefore deserved no respect or mercy.
Signalman James Ling at the Burma-Thai Railway suffered by watching one of his mates lose the will to live. He and some other comrades said ''they wouldn't have the guts (to give up)''.