Chungkai
Chungkai was a hospital camp run by Colonel Cary Owtram. There is now a cemetery with 1692 graves for fallen POWs. Here’s Owtram writing about the cemetery:
“Surrounded by green-clad hills, the perpetual green of the jungle foliage, flowers of every colour which seem to be in bloom nearly the whole year round with the silent and noble Kwae Noi river flowing past, those who lie there have a resting place more beautiful than any I know in England, and though they lie in Siam, those hallowed acres have become a bit of England, which we who have lived there and survived can never forget.”
Once the railway was complete the men had more time for leisure, including concerts and theatrical productions. Cary Owtram, the camp commandant at Chungkai, was an enthusiastic producer and participant in plays and concerts.
