In the 1940s, the Japanese lured unsuspecting workers to its Railway project in Thailand by making rather outlandish job offers. Abandoned by the British when Malaya fell, thousands of Tamil-Indians accepted those offers and willingly boarded trains which carried them north into a new kind of hell. The Japanese were using a bait and switch technique, they had no intentions of fulfilling those offers, those ‘hired workers’ were to become slaves.
In OCT 2023, at HellFire Pass, a similar technique was used to lure unsuspecting participants to a ceremony that unveiled the worse piece of fiction about the Thai-Burma Railway since Pierre Boulle’s 1952 novel.
Some (as yet unidentified) trickster, wrote a new account of the American POW story every bit as fictional as Boulle’s novel and hung it on the wall of this revered Pass. His version involves an un-named fictional ship carrying US soldiers which is torpedoed and those men are then rescued by the US Navy. Like the addition of William Holden to the movie version of the original book, he added Merchant Mariners to that rescue. He then goes on to add two more US civilians to his fanciful account. While there is some kernel of truth to all of this, Boulle also wrote about an actual bridge!
Somehow or other he managed to lure quite a few dignitaries to his ceremony. Apparently none of them were allowed to read the text of his fantasy or if they did, they were completely ignorant of the true story of the US POW involvement on the Railway and the various routes by which they arrived there. I must commend him for pulling of one of the greatest hoaxes of this year. Gathering people from all over the world to support a new fictional account of a historical event is quite the achievement. David Lean’s adaptation of the Bridge on the River Kwai movie was great theater but horrible history. So to this plaque will hang (at least for a while) at HellFire Pass as a testimony to a jokester who fooled them into thinking he was writing an accurate account of the events in question. It may have been good theater but it is horrible history.
In addition to the fictional ‘rescue’ and other factual errors, just about every number cited in the text is incorrect.
Part 1:
In the early 1950s, a Frenchman who had never been to Thailand wrote a novel about a bridge that was built in that country during WW 2. In the latter part of that same decade, another man made that novel into an even more fictional movie by making significant changes to the script for commercial reasons. The fame and fortune of both these men was based on events and characterizations that were largely concocted from their imaginations rather than anything resembling what actually transpired during the building any bridge in the 1940s.
The sole redeeming social value from these two items was that Thailand enjoy an influx of tourists looking for this fictional Bridge on the River Kwai. This brought confusion since there was no River Kwai anywhere in the country. The 1940’s bridge was built over the Mae Klong River near where it was joined by the Kwae Noi River. In order to capitalize on the popularity of this bridge, the Thais some re-named the upper portion of the Mae Klong to the Kwae Yai. In Thai ‘kwae’ means tributary and ‘noi’ and ‘yai’ are small and large respectively. But this still is no such place as a River Kwai. (One meaning of ‘kwai’ in Thai is water buffalo.)
In the movie the bridge looks much like it was built from a set of Tinker-Toys. Tourists arriving in Kanchanaburi are often startled to find a more modern looking iron bridge. Many of them go on YOU TUBE and claim that bridge to be a ‘fake’ one. Others proclaim that the viaduct at Wang Po must be the novel’s bridge.
No one in the 1950 or 60s was out to dupe the public. It was simply that Hollywood’s presentation was great theater but horrible history. The book and movie sent people searching for something that didn’t exist in a way that matched their perceptions.
Part 2:
Pierre Boulle and David Lean were seeking fame and fortune when they concocted their respective fanciful accounts of this WW 2 event. Decades later, Eric Lomax published his account of his time as a TBR POW. The movie adaptation is 85-90% true to the actual events.
What then was the motivation and intent of the person or persons who authored the text of the plaque that was recently hung with great fanfare at HellFire Pass? This account is as much fantasy as those of Boulle and Lean. It hands the US Navy crew of the cruiser USS HOUSTON a central role in the story when they ‘rescue’ Soldiers and Merchant Mariners from a sunken transport. No such event ever occurred! Why would anyone, much less a seeming fellow veteran, dream up such a scathing rebuke of the role of these brave men?
To date, the author(s) have yet to be identified. Were they there at the dedication ceremony? How did they dupe the US Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, the US Embassy and even the Texas National Guard into sponsoring and supporting such a flagrant depiction of otherwise heroic events? Why was there no due diligence on the part of these ‘dignitaries’ who agree to participate? Why does a plaque that contains an utterly fictional fantasy, incorrect data, and invented personnel still hang in such a revered position?
It is an affront to all those brave POWs to have their story twisted into something unrecognizable!
Part 3:
Since we are currently dealing with a purely fictitious account of the saga of the US POWs that seemingly places the crew of the USS HOUSTON front and center as the ‘heroes’, I am compelled to state a few facts.
US Navy CAPT ROOKS lost his ship and his life and that of about 70% of his crew when the HOUSTON was sunk on 1MAR 42. Why that happened was not his fault alone. He was under the command of an utterly incompetent HQ called ABDACOM. They sent him and the HMAS PERTH sailing directly into an ambush! There was a complete lack of intelligence that an entire Japanese invasion fleet ferrying some 80,000 combat troops to invade Java was in the path of those ships as they attempted to flee to Australia.
Why Australia? Both ships had sustained damage in the even more ill-fated attempt by ABDACOM to interdict that portion of the invasion fleet that was sailing south near Borneo. A hopelessly, out-numbered and out-gunned, cobbled together task force of Dutch, British, Australian and US combat ships sailed out to stop them. Fat chance!
Having survived that encounter, ABDACOM sent the two surviving ship west to sail through the Sunda Strait. They had utterly failed to track the invasion fleet which was now larger since it had been joined by a second fleet out of Singapore. The PERTH and HOUSTON lasted less than an hour once they blundered into that combined fleet.
Could CAPTs WALLER and ROOKS have done more due diligence about their orders? Did they, could they, have asked where the invasion fleet that nearly sunk them on 27 FEB had evaporated to? It had to be somewhere and west of Batavia was a likely place. Exactly where they had been told that the straits were clear. The Strait may have been clear but the route to that passage was not!
The US Army contingent, consisting mainly of a Field Artillery Battalion of the TXNG, fought on Java until their ammo was exhausted and the Australian infantry they were supporting was out-flanked and had to withdraw. They were awaiting orders and re-supply when on 8 MAR the Dutch capitulated. They were never ‘rescued’ by anyone. There was no ‘torpedoed transport ship’. They followed orders, fought and were sacrificed in the name of Allied unity while the ABDACOM HQ staff and other US military personnel were evacuated.
The utterly inaccurate and fictitious tale on the plaque at HellFire Pass is a travesty and needs to be removed ASAP before the VFW and USA becomes the laughing stock of any knowledgeable person who reads it. The ‘rescue’ tale is only one of multiple errors displayed therein.
Part 4:
I’m thinking of writing a short story in which LTC Dunlop uses his scalpel to part the waters of the Kwai Noi River and lead a group POWs to freedom. Do you think the operators of HellFire Pass will endorse it and hang it in their museum?
After all, they seem to have no problem supporting an absurdly fictional account of the US POWs!
Part 5:
Slight change of venue for this installment. There are two museums in KAN that carry the name JEATH. This is obviously a play on the moniker DEATH Railway. It cleverly stands for Japan, England, Australia (and America ?) Thailand and Holland. That aside, the original was opened in the 1970s and for decades stood as the only place that tourists could get a feel for what conditions were like for the POWs. It was later superseded by the TBRCtr in its depth of presentation.
Sometime in the early 2000s, the owners of the jewelry concession outlets near the Bridge, stole that name (I guess the monks who operate the original museum didn’t copyright the term). They built a building next to the Thai-Anusorn memorial (which they purportedly also tried to buy) and filled it with a huge amount of junk that has nothing whatsoever to do with the TBR. Over these past two decades (un-informed) tourists have continued to post their pix of the two places as if they were one and the same. Same name = same place?
Within the ersatz museum there appeared to be two items which were actually a part of the TBR experience: a remnant of the original wooden bridge and a glass case filled with bones of Asian Forced Laborers. The latter were somehow procured from a 1990 archeological excavation, but that is a story all its own.
I have never personally been tempted to pay the fee to support the fake museum. I have relied on posted photos of its displays. There does not appear to be anything else in this rather large facility that is even remotely connected to the TBR.
I had been under the impression that at least one element of redeeming social value of this for-profit establishment was that they had placed it in such a way as to preserve a remnant of the original wooden Bridge on the River Kwai. Recently, my hopes were shattered!
Via a discussion with men who have thoroughly investigated this matter, it is now clear that even that supposed artifact is a fake! Not only is it in the wrong place – it is offset by a few meters from the proven trace of the original tracks to the wooden bridge — but the museum’s version has concrete pillars. I am indebted to the guys who so accurately pointed out these facts.
That leaves only the display of human remains (yes they ARE indeed real) in a for-profit museum. Some years ago, I had a discussion with a lawyer who specializes in International Law. She did some research and reported that there is no law that would prohibit such a display. Obviously, human remains are displayed in various forms all over the world, but I wonder how many of those places are privately owned and for-profit rather than governmental or non-profit.
That being said, since the museum’s owners went to great lengths to construct a fake bridge section even though they got the materials wrong. That means that 99.9% of the items on display there are either out-right fakes or utterly un-related to the actual Thai-Burma Railway!
I now return to my original rant. The operators of HELLFIRE PASS failed miserably in doing due diligence before they agreed to hang a plaque that weaves a completely fictitious tale of a ‘rescue’ of US POWs. This is a distortion beyond the pale.
How does their action differ from building a fake bridge and passing it off as an artifact? At least, they don’t charge a fee for tourists to read this piece of fiction. Do they realize that once you taint your otherwise solemn memorial with such a false tale all the other elements of your museum come under suspicion? What other displays have they simply faked?
It is time for them to take down that plaque and return it to the author if they even know who that is!
Part 6:
There is no greater way to lose credibility than to become involved with FALSE FLAG events. The operators of HELLFIRE PASS are rapidity sliding down a slippery slope of losing ALL credibility.
Let’s begin with the simple fact that although the Australian Government has officially claimed this as their sacred ground, it is quite likely that the Australian POWs were in the minority in 1943.
It is also worth a mention that the eminent LtCol Dunlop was at Hintock. In his diary, he never once mentions Kunyo or HellFire by name. So although is ashes were deposited there, it is quite likely that he was never actually present. It is necessary to relate here that there is no record of any US POW being present at this site. A few were nearby at Hintock, but not here.
Unless they can show other evidence, I’d suggest that their entire premise is without foundation; much like the nearby Pack of Cards bridge that collapsed numerous times during its construction.
Adding the absurdly erroneous US plaque in OCT 2023 only compounds the historical inaccuracies embraced therein.
Part 7:
In 2006, James Hornfischer published what is perhaps the definitive story of the USS HOUSTON as SHIP OF GHOSTS. I find it quite amazing that the mystery author of the plaque that now hangs in HELLFIRE PASS and was sponsored and endorsed by so many (formerly?) respectable organizations such as the US Veterans of Foreign Wars, The US Ambassador and even a representative of the Texas Nat’l Guard was able to document the ‘rescue’ by the crew of the USS HOUSTON that Mr. Hornfischer completely overlooked!
Even Gerald Reminick who wrote the story of the SS SAWOLKA and the Merchant Mariners (they are not called Marines!) failed to find this critical piece of history that is now proudly displayed at HELLFIRE PASS bearing the VFW logo.
Unless, this mystery author concocted this ‘rescue’ out of his imagination! That could partially explain the absurdity of it all plus the plethora of other errors contained therein. Might his flight of fantasy have been fuel by alcohol? No one will ever know unless he steps out of the shadows and is identified. Only then could he vindicate himself – and his supporters – by revealing the source(s) of this information. Did he find some documents, some personal correspondence that no one else in 80 years had as yet uncovered? There are a myriad of first-hand POW survivor accounts of their experiences. No one else has mentioned this ‘rescue’. Does he have access to items that no one else has ever seen?
I truly would like to meet this incredible researcher who has added a completely new chapter to the Thai-Burma Railway saga.
Part 8:
Over the course of decades, Univ of North Texas professor Ronald Marcello conducted hundreds of interviews with WW2 POWs. Nearly a hundred of them were of survivors of the Thai-Burma Railway.
I find it quite interesting that not one of them spoke of the heroic rescue by the crew of the USS HOUSTON. It’s almost as if that event never actually happened.
But now we know that it must have occurred because the US Veterans of Foreign Wars, the US Embassy Bangkok and other (formerly?) prestigious organization have declared so in a plaque that the operators of HELLFIRE PASS so proudly display.
What an amazing addition to the annuals of history! And yet the actual author has yet to be congratulated for his efforts.
Part 9:
Who am I to doubt the wisdom and integrity of the US Emb Bangkok and the US VFW? If they declare that the USS HOUSTON crew rescued Army personnel as well as Merchant ‘Marines’, then it MUST HAVE happened that way!
Could anyone provide the date of this event? The name of the torpedoed ship? The geographical location of this sinking? The world awaits the revelation of this unique and newly uncovered piece of history. We also wish to pay homage to the researcher who uncovered this long lost event.
Part 10:
I am leaning towards the opinion that there was no actual author of the ridiculous plaque that was recently hung at HELLFIRE PASS.
Recently a series of sketches was posted to the internet featuring a rail gauge of two meters or a set of POWs were all 1 meter tall hobbits! If an A.I.-bot can conjure up such an absurd picture, why could it not write a story about a torpedoed ship and US civilians working the That-Burma Railway?
I suggest that no human was involved and that it is all a massive computer hoax that dozens of gullible ’dignitaries’ bought into!
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Part 11
Unanswered questions….
The deliberate distortion of historical events is reasonably common. Hollywood writers do it all the time. But at least their goal is box office profits and not the telling of accurate history.
So why would someone deliberately distort history when there is no profit to be made? The base motivation is unfathomable. In OCT 2024, the HellFire Pass Interpretive Center partnered with the (formerly reputable) US Veterans of Foreign Wars to hang a plaque in Kanchanaburi that was purported to honor the US POW who labored and died while building the Thai-Burma Railway.
Unfortunately, this plaque contains almost as many errors as there are lines of text! Foremost among them is the invention of a torpedoed ship that necessitated the rescue of US military personnel by the US Navy. No such event ever occurred in this era. Rather than honor these men, it defames their true history which is one of bravery in battle and sacrifices and suffering in captivity.
How could such venerable organizations have failed to do their due diligence in vetting the content of this plaque? Why do they allow it to remain after all these months? What was the motivation of the author?
Unanswered questions….
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On ARMISTICE DAY 1941, the members of the 2nd Bn 131st FA Regiment (2/131) departed central Texas by train as the first step in their journey to PLUM. They had been detached from the 36th INF DIV which would eventually deploy to Italy.
There seems to be only one person in the world who documents that they were to be rescued from their torpedoed transport ship by the crew of the USS HOUSTON.
Might someone name that transport?
I propose that:
1) the HellFire Plaque be removed (quietly and even under the cover of darkness) before too many people get to see it.
2) the author be publicly named and shamed.
3) the VFW, US EMB and operators of HellFire Pass offer a public apology for blaspheming the memory of these men.
4) to make amends, the VFW provide for a replacement plaque at the River Kwai Bridge site denoting the proper number of US deaths.
DEC 2023 UPDATE #1:
To my utter amazement, I received an email from the person purporting to be the actual author of this abomination of history. He seemingly acknowledged ‘the error’. It seems that he still fails to understand that while the concocted story of a ‘rescue for a torpedoed ship’ is the most egregious error, there are almost as many errors as there are lines of text on this monstrosity! He seems blindly unapologetic for having created such a fabrication and for having duped so many ‘dignitaries’! He actually ‘promised’ to have it rectified. It is beyond me as to how he thinks he can reverse time and undo this massive hoax. He must have delusions of grandeur equal to his ability to rewrite history!
DEC 2023 UPDATE #2:
In a classic case of ‘shoot the messenger”, the VFW (an organization to which I have belonged for decades), has threatened me with legal action if I persist in pointing out the blasphemous nature of the story told in the aforementioned plaque. The Nat’l Cdr refused to even admit his involvement — despite ‘proudly’ sitting for a photo op — then blocked on FACEBOOK so that I could no longer communicate my fury. This shifts all the blame to the Pacific Areas. Rather than admit that they were all duped by the cunning, if historically challenged, author of this monstrosity, they are will to endure the ridicule it will bring to the organization as well the dishonor it brings to the brave men who endured such hardships but where NEVER ‘rescued’ by the US NAVY! On of the items in the Congressional Charter of the US VFW is “to perpetuate the memory and history of our dead.”; the current staff of the VFW seems to be willing to blasphemy them instead!
DEC 2023 UPDATE #3:
The story behind the folly.
Some years back (before COVID) the idea of placing a memorial to honor the US POWs who labored and died on the Thai-Burma Railway was raised. This was an honorable concept, that at some point took a horrific turn. The format of such a memorial was never revealed. Post-COVID, after the admitted author had already departed the country, the idea was revived. It was revealed that that the proposed site was HellFire Pass. A number of us spoke in opposition to this idea since no American POWs were ever at Kanyu. Years ago, the Australian government had claimed HellFire as their sacred ground. Why would the US want to intrude on their land?
This idea seemed to go dormant until a few months ago. Further inquiries by a number of interested parties concerning the nature of this honorific were rebuffed. No word of the concept nor content of the memorial was revealed. This raised concerns but not unduly so. Surely, those who were recruited to participate would perform their due diligence and vet the author and his content.
Then comes OCT 2023, individuals fly in from the US specifically to participate in the ceremonial unveiling. Photos of the US AMB to Thailand unveiling a bronze plaque in Thai and English emblazoned with the logo and name of the US VFW are proudly taken. A group of distinguished guests pose for a photo op. Had any of them actually read the plaque? Did any of them have any fore-knowledge of its content? Or were they all equally duped by the historically challenged author who concocted a ludicrous story of the US NAVY ‘rescuing’ ARMY and Merchant Seamen. In addition, there is hardly a true fact to be found anywhere in the text. There are nearly as many errors and inaccuracies as there are lines of text.
The US VFW took for command of the situation and undoubtedly expended a considerable sum to produce the plaque as well as fly in personnel to aid and abet this folly. It must be asked who authorized the expenditure of funds on a plaque that rather than honoring the POWs, inaccurately portrays them, even to the point of blaspheming them? No US ARMY personnel needed ‘rescuing’ by the US NAVY. It is even more baffling that the author has since been revealed as a US ARMY retiree.
The parties involved, once it was pointed out how ludicrous this plaque is, circled wagons and decided to attack the messenger. Over these ensuring months. There have been ample opportunities for any of them to admit that they were hoaxed; to admit that they knew nothing of the content and were duping into participating in this folly. But none have taken any steps to reverse their decision. The plaque remains for visitors from around the world to read and marvel at. Any who know the truth story if the US POWs will be laughing at the US for concocting such a fictional account. Unfortunately, few will recognize those errors and the story of a heroic rescue will enter the folklore of nonsense about the Thai-Burma Railway that abounds across the internet.
It is also worthy of note that the original author was not present at the ceremony; his name is not displayed. Only the US VFW chose to take full credit for the plaque and its contents. They, not the US State Dept/US Embassy nor the Texas National Guard (whose heroes were ‘rescued’) are named as even participating. Only the US VFW bears the shame of this project; even though they were not in at its conception.
To compound the folly of all of this, there is a much simpler and historically accurate alternative memorialization of these men. There is an existing plaque dedicated to their honor that has stood next to the famous bridge, just a short distance from where hundreds of US POWs were housed. Unfortunately, that plaque, too, contains a critical error. It states that 356 US POWs died during the construction. The actual documented figure is 131 (not the 134 on the HellFire plaque). In the mid-1990s when that first plaque was conceived and dedicated, 356 was the accepted number and it appears in other places as well. More recent research has shown the true figure to be 131.
It was suggested that rather than a new plaque at HellFire Pass, the existing plaque be replaced by one with the actual figures. This fell on deaf ears. At least the men who worked so hard to honor these POWs in the 1990, did their due diligence and used the best available information at the time. They did not invent a fictional rescue from a torpedoed ship that never existed!
The solution is quite simple: remove the plaque at HellFire Pass and replace the plaque by the Bridge with correct data. Thousands more people walk past the Bridge plaque than will even visit HellFire Pass to read a piece of historical fiction.