The Death Railway
the installation, was shown at my exhibition Upwelling at the Pie Factory Margate 2022. My work took me deeper into my father, Reg Marks’ war time experiences.
The Burma Siam Railway is a 415 km (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma, built from 1940 to 1943 by civilian labourers and Japanese prisoners of war.
It was built to link Thailand and Burma in order to supply Japanese troops and weapons to the Japanese Burma campaign of the second World War.
The railway track painted for this installation symbolises the loss of life and tremendous suffering that was caused.
My father Reg Marks was a Japanese POW on the railway. Before the war he sang and played guitar. He was part of the Hats Off Review. They played in the Winter Gardens, Margate in 1937.
Reg was secretary to Colonel Holmes and typed and hand wrote the document finalising the surrender of the British troops to the Japanese. Colonel Holmes signed the surrender on 4th September 1942 at Selarang Square, Changi, Singapore.
Reg, along with all the Allied prisoners of war, was taken by rice wagon from Singapore to Burma to be used as forced labour to build the railway.
From October 1942 to October 1943 the Japanese army forced about 60,000 Allied prisoners of war, including 13,000 Australians and roughly 200,000 civilians, mostly Burmese and Malaysians to work on the railway.
The living and working conditions on the Burma Railway were often described as ‘horrific’, with maltreatment, sickness, and starvation. The estimated number of civilian labourers and POWs who died during construction varies considerably.
Reg continued to sing during his time as a POW. He escaped a beating because a high ranking soldier liked to hear him sing.
When work on the railway ended, Reg was shipped to Japan. The ship was torpedoed by the Americans and he was ship wrecked in the South China Sea for 2 nights and 3 days, hanging on to a piece of wood. He was picked up by a Japanese ship and taken to Japan. He was near Nagasaki when it was bombed by the Americans.
The war ended and he was taken the long route home via Canada and eventually returned to Leeds to be reunited with Bina, his little daughter Gita and the rest of his family.
Remembering Reg Marks and Reg Millard and all the men who suffered so terribly building the Death Railway.
Soundscape: Alex Caldon. Textile Artist: Shelley Beach Ganderton. Photo & Film: Svenja Schaper.