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On 10 May 1939 my elder brother Leslie and I, enlisted in the Territorial Army. We choose to join the Royal Engineers and became Sappers in the 288th Field Company, a locally formed unit. We sailed from Liverpool on October 31st 1941 and arrived at Singapore on January 29th 1942. Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15~ February 1942 and we became Prisoners of War, but were only together a month before being separated. I was sent to Singapore City to work and while there, unknown to me, in June 1942 my brother was sent to Thailand. It was over three years later before I learned that it was in the base camp at Non Pladuk that he contracted Diphtheria. With virtually no medical supplies available he had little chance to survive and died on the 28th August 1942 aged 22. In October 1972 I accompanied our mother on a visit to Chungkai War Cemetery, 75 miles west of Bangkok, Thailand, his final resting-place. Much of the following verse was penned by an unknown many years ago and seemed as if it was written especially for us. Hopefully, it perpetuates the memory of all those that lie there.
PATHWAY TO CHUNGKAI
Now that we have strolled along the pathway
Up from the river to the graves at Chungkai
To witness the solitude and beauty
Of the cemetery where a Son and Brother lie.
And we who've made this special journey
A pilgrimage we all have shared
Wonder why so many perished
While we who returned were spared.
Flowers, shrubs and trees have been planted
Tended with care through all the years
Plaques with name and epitaph printed
We read through freely flowing tears.
The prison camps have all now vanished
Grown over by jungle and lost in time
But the graves we see are grim reminders
Of men who were taken in their prime
We have this feeling he know of our presence
Just why its hard to explain
But our journey have achieved a sense of purpose
To be with him just for a while again
And all those who sleep out here in Thailand
And other Far East war graves o'er the sea
Will never ever be forgotten
By us who live on, forever free
Maurice A Rooney
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