The Last Brit On The River Kwai

Rail of horror: More than 16,000 prisoners of war and an estimated 90,000 Asian labourers died during the construction of the jingle railroad from Bankok to Burma

The Last Brit On The River Kwai: Reg Twigg, One Of The Few Remaining Survivors Of The Death Railway, Died Last Week - But The Story He Left Behind Will Stay With You Forever -- Daily Mail

It was known, for good reason, as the Death Railway. In 1942, after the fall of Singapore, the Japanese army ordered the construction of a jungle railroad from Bangkok to Rangoon to support its assault on India.

Almost 260 miles of track were built by a forced labour workforce consisting of 250,000 local men and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war, whose treatment at the hands of the Japanese was brutal. More than 16,000 prisoners of war and an estimated 90,000 Asian labourers died.

As one of the last remaining survivors, 99-year-old Reg Twigg wrote a remarkable personal testimony of his three years of hell on the River Kwai. Sadly, the former private in the Leicestershire Regiment died last week and never lived to see it published.

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My Comment: I loved the movie, but this Daily Mail post is a fascinating read.