Once again members of the Royal British Legion Thailand traveled to Kanchanaburi (Bridge over the River Kwai) to join our Australian and New Zealand friends in their Commemoration of ANZAC Day. This year 29 of us traveled up a day earlier than previous visits thus allowing us a free afternoon on arrival and more importantly time to join the Dawn Service at Hellfire Pass. ANZAC Day and in particular the Dawn Service has its roots from Gallipoli during the First World War.  

                     Dawn breaks over Hellfire Pass                                   Wives help with the poppy selling                        

After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. With symbolic links to the dawn landing at Gallipoli, a dawn stand-to or ceremony became a common form of ANZAC Day remembrance during the 1920s; the first official dawn service was held at the Sydney Cenotaph in 1927. Dawn services were originally very simple and followed the operational ritual. In many cases they were restricted to veterans only and the daytime ceremony was for families and other well-wishers. Before dawn the gathered veterans would be ordered to "stand to" and two minutes' silence would follow. At the end of this time a lone bugler would play the Last Post and then concluded the service with Reveille. In more recent times the families and young people have been encouraged to take part in dawn services, and services in Australian capital cities have seen some of the largest turnouts ever. Reflecting this change, the ceremonies have become more elaborate, incorporating hymns, readings, pipers, and rifle volleys. Others, though, have retained the simple format of the dawn stand-to, familiar to so many soldiers. We certainly felt that air of comradeship as the first light of dawn started to put shapes to what had been shadows and we could start to see faces, so many of them young school children here on a pilgrimage or young backpackers who had all headed here for this one day. It was well worth our 3am reveille to get here and the dark walk to the Cenotaph lit only by candles along the path and the ones we carried

      The Royal British Legion Standard escorted on parade                  Last Post sounded by the Royal Thai Army

After our Bundy Rum breakfast we had time to head back to the hotel for another breakfast ( this one with solids!), shower, change and be on parade for the 11am Service, this one being held at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.  When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federal commonwealth for only 14 years. The new national government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies. The plan was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian and 3000 New Zealand  soldiers were killed. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealander’s at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.

                        The Cenotaph at Kanchanaburi                                       Members outside Chungkai Cemetery

Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Constantinople and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as the "ANZAC legend" became an important part of the national identity of both nations. This shaped the ways they viewed both their past and future. Both countries now use Anzac Day to remember all those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in war especially at Kanchanaburi were so many died building the Death Railway between Thailand and Burma in WWII. After the service we were once again introduced to that good old Aussie custom of Ice Cold Beer!!.       

                Middy say's a few words at Chungkai          Our lone wreath at Chungkai along with one from November 11th

As members of the Royal British Legion we were honoured to be alongside our Aussie and Kiwi friends and also honoured that they allowed us to both collect money for our Poppy Appeal ( the box was full and all the Poppies gone after 10 minutes) and fly our Standard, but our Parade was not over yet. There is another lesser known cemetery in Kanchanaburi called Chungkai, it is situated about 10km from the main one and lays on the banks of the River Kwai.  Chungkai was one of the base camps on the railway and contained a hospital and church built by Allied prisoners of war. The war cemetery is the original burial ground started by the prisoners themselves, and the burials are mostly of men who died at the hospital. There are now 1,427 Commonwealth and 314 Dutch burials of the Second World War in this cemetery. We first visited Chungkai last year and found that not one wreath had been laid there so decided that in future years we would order an extra wreath  and after a few words by our chairman Middy Campbell lay it at the Chungkai Cenotaph. Our Duties now complete we joined our Commonwealth friends once more, by this time they were at The Bridge along with the Pipe Band, more cold beer and plenty of food.

             Duties now done we relaxed by the Bridge                         A lone Monk, The Bridge and River all at Peace

We will return again next year along with our extra wreath, Poppy Boxes and alarm clocks for that 3am reveille for they are just small burdens to have the Honour of paying our respects to so many.

Lest We Forget