CLUB 12/68 ANNUAL REUNION IN BANGKOK 23 – 27 SEPTEMBER 2017

DAY 3 – 25th September 2017.
At last, history buff would get to see a World War 11 epic for real. The third day is planned for a visit to Kanchaburi, the town where the prisoner of war camp and the bridge over the river was sited. It was a 4 hour ride. Most of us, military officers  would have read a must-read  novel written initially in French by Pierre Boulle in 1952 and later translated to English by Xan Fielding in 1954. In this book, 2 great personalities were mentioned. A Lt Col Nicholson, the leader of the POW and Kol Saito, the Camp Commandant of the Japanese Prison of War 16. In all 13,000 soldiers (POW) and  80,000 to 100,000 civilians died in the construction of the bridge over Mae Klong and later renamed Khwae Yai or that we know as the River Kwai.


We missed the scheduled train ride but still managed to walk along part of the railway tracks overlooking the river. We then proceeded to the actual site of the bridge now.
 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a museum with a fair bit of historical artifacts but as observed by KLGoh especially, the place was much to look at and poorly maintained. A name cropped up of a surveyor who came here to do survey work even before the bridge was constructed. He was Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah. The father to Azman Abdul Aziz and Azmie Abdul Aziz. Two of the participants in our group.

 

 It must have been a nostalgic moment to the 2 siblings. Alfatihah to his Soul.
We travelled another 4 hours back to Bangkok . We then set forth to the Amiroz Hotel for our Tahlil event. It is an annual ritual that we have been conducting since our annual reunion.

We had dinner there
 

 

followed by our Tahlil ably conducted by our Imam Haji Hamdan Mohd Salleh.

 

 

It was a touching and emotional moment. Names were mentioned which jolted us of our own experiences with those who have left us.

Good Night Guys

JohnH