Camp on west of the river. Site of the still operating Wampo Viaduct where trains cross with tourists.

During the speedo, there were two shifts of 1,000 men working throughout the night blasting the side of a cliff face to build a railway viaduct, the hammer and tap meathod was used, the bridge was a quarter of a mile long, was 20 to 30 feet above the river and was built in 17 days and nights.

The surface of the viaduct had two lines of foot square wood supported on teak timbers, these were held in place by a lattice work of cross members. There were no handrail, many prisoners fell to their deaths from this bridge.

Information from Railway of Death by John Coast

We arrived at Wampo South on the 2nd April 1943, marching from Tarki Len. One side of the river was a massive cliff face and on the other was flat, this is where the huts were erected. We found out the next day the Japanese planned to run the track along the face of this cliff, out job was to dig and blast a shelf to hold the track. We were ferried over the river to our task. At first the rocks were pushed and shoved over the edge into the river to come to rest along the riverside. We were soon put into pairs and given a hammer which could weigh 7, 10, 14lbs and a three foot long chisel. We also had a piece of long wire with a catherine wheel object on one end, the purpose of this instrument was to insert after hammering with the chisel and scooping out the rock dust from the hole which was made. The Japanese decided that as a pair we should drill three, one metre holes, into the limestone rock. The hole was then filled with dynamite and blown, this was dangerous work and the Japanese paid three times more then they did for a normal job. Balanced on a cliff face 80/100 feet above the river, one false step meant certain death.

At the end of a day the Japanese filled the holes with dynamite manufactured by ICI, brought to Thailand from the spoils of war taken at Java.  We were ferried back across the river to collapse in our billets exhausted. A bugle then sounded and the Japanese started blasting, the cliff face erupted and rocks hurtled towards our camp, many men were injured and killed in the first day of explosions, the holes and been drilled wrong and forced the explosion outwards away from the rock face.

Next day we returned to the cliff face to remove the rocks, we now had elephants helping, they climbed the narrow paths with ease, almost looking dainty. Their tusks were placed under the large rocks and they pushed the rocks over the edge. We were also aware that their bowls would be relieved quite often so stayed clear of the back half.

The over hanging rocks were also a problem as they might fall, in the future, onto the railway track. Using long bamboo canes, about four inches wide in diameter, the Japanese made us construct a large frame, using the same inner bark strips as we did at Wun Lun to lash together the bamboo. Ropes were then attached to the frame, this was lowered to the offending rock with drillers on board. The rock was then drilled as before, not an easy job when the frame kept swaying. The next day, clearing rocks, seemed a  much easier task, if in luck one could hide in one of the many caves in the cliff face to have a rest.

Giant trees were felled on the camp side of the river and taken to the sawmill, then taken across the river to start the construction of the bridge sections, on the top of concrete bases. The bridges were erected at eighteen foot high sections and when they were fifty-four feet high, ropes reached down from the top of the cliff and they were fastened to the bridge. A Japanese guard was killed when a rock fell, knocking him over the edge, he plunged to his death. We all received a beating as we were not sad to his loss.

To complete this section a way through the hill on the Bangkok side was dug out by hand and the soil and stones removed using stretches.

A guard asked the prisoners who could swim and picked three, making the way down to the bank the guard took a grenade out of his pouch and threw it into the river we were told to collect the stunned fish that floated on the surface. We received none of the fish the guard took them all.

The bridges and ledges were built by an estimated two thousand men and the work stretched for almost one third of a mile.

When finished, we were allowed a few days rest and the on the 26th April 1943 were moved to our next destination. For ten days we marched going through Tarsol, Kin Syuk, Camu, Rin Tin, Endato, arriving at Taconoon No.2 Camp on 6th May 1943.

Information from Unknown to the Emperor by J.R. Hill

4 May 1943

Passing through - The river here is beautiful. Only about 3 to 4 ft deep, but with a swift current which would carry you away if you did not grip the bottom very firmly. The river is just teeming with fish, they keep coming in great shoals and as you bathe they give your toes a nibble. They were also very plentiful In the first big river which was deep and treacherous to the unwary. Betel-nut drug is the downfall of the greater percentage of the women. They chew and spit till their mouths go red. teeth red, when constantly kept up thier mouths and teeth go black and eventually - no teeth but an ugly black line where they were.

Private GBW (Glen) Skewes

"This was a huge project, as the two-part bridge was to be built underneath and against the rocks hanging over the river. As far as I remember, we were a labor force of 2,000 Allied POWs: About 600
Aussies, 700 Brits and 450 Dutch. Also about 100 Thai workers whose elephants dragged the chopped down trees, to be used for the bridges, from the forest to the river. The three POW labor camps were situated on sand banks in the river bend - the rainy monsoon had not arrived yet. For the first time we had tents for bivouacs. Really not enough of them, as we had to lie down very close together. But because we worked in shifts there was just enough room for everyone.

The Brits and Aussies were detailed to build the bridges, and we Dutch and a few hundred Brits got the task of hacking away the huge rock so the railroad could continue towards the bridges. The bridge builders worked all day during daylight. But we rock cutters worked in three shifts day and night. The first detail, by twos, had to make holes of 1.20 meters deep manually, using chisel and hammer. The goal was that each twosome had to make two holes, so one hole per man. Dynamite was then exploded in those holes. The second shift had to clear away the debris, chunks of rock, stones and gravel, shoving it down the mountainside with shovels, or using steel jacks for the large rocks. As soon as they were finished, the third group showed up to make holes with hammer and chisel. And so it went, day and night. After dark we worked by torch lights called hell fires. During the day it was broiling hot on those rocks. The thirst was very bad, especially when we saw the river streaming below.

Here also, we were harrassed and beaten for any or no reason. We got a little more rice here than in the previous camps and there were fewer gravely ill POWs. But the night-and-day work schedule was a killer, and the sharp stone fragments tore up our feet as most of us had no shoes left to wear. We had to keep working on those sore and cut up feet. After a while, you lost count of hours, days, nights. No more thoughts, only work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep. The lack of sleep brought most of us to utter exhaustion. Because of this, malaria and dysentery came back in force and the foot injuries got worse and worse. It took about four weeks to cut that rock of 15 meters height and 100 meters long to pieces. Afterwards we had to hoist tree trunks, meant for the last sections of the bridge, from the river to the rocks. When the bridges were finally finished and the wood cross ties and rails could be laid down, we were marched to the next camp without a break.

Only the gravely ill stayed behind. Many of them had seriously injured feet. They were transported to the base/hospital camp Chungkai."

Wampo: Eyewitness account by Dutch FEPOW Felix Bakker

Keeping The Candle Burning

In Memory of FEPOW Family Loved Ones

Who Suffered in the Far East

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