Memorial held for victims of 'Death Railway'
A memorial service was held Sunday in western Thailand for people who died building the Thai-Burma Railway in World War Two. It earned the name "Death Railway" due to the huge number of lives lost during its construction.
The now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army began building the railroad in 1942 as a supply route to the Burmese front.
Experts say the army mobilized over 200,000 people, including British and other Allied prisoners of war, to work on the railway. Tens of thousands are estimated to have perished due to harsh working conditions and disease.
The railway was made famous by the Oscar-winning film "The Bridge on the River Kwai."
At a temple in Kanchanaburi, where railroad workers from Asian countries are said to be buried, about 20 people attended the remembrance ceremony.
An 80-year-old woman said her father was taken away to work on the railway while her mother was pregnant with her.
She said that 80 years after the war "we are struggling, struggling, struggling," with victims' families unable to know where or how their forebears died.
The commemoration was first held at the temple two years ago. Appanah hopes future generations will remember -- and pray for -- those who gave the Death Railway its name.
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