Rod Beattie
Rod Beattie is a man of many parts - husband, father
of three daughters, Civil Engineer, ex Australian Army Engineer, gem
exporter, manager of Kanchanaburi and Chungkai War Cemeteries, builder,
designer and Manager of the Thailand Burma Railway Centre, Kanchanaburi.
I first met Rod Beattie at the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
in 1996 on my 2nd visit to the War Cemetery. On finding that I was an
ex POW he took time out from his busy schedule, to take me to a building
in the Cemetery and showed me his collection of thousands of relics
he had personally excavated from Railway sites.
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Even at this early stage Rod had already bush-bashed
along the overgrown railway track and established exact locations
of camps lost to the jungle for 50 years - not satisfied with
this he personally cleared the site of Hellfire Pass and part
of the railway trace.
Since that time his research into the Railway
and the POWs has taken him to many countries and he has searched
the archives of British, Dutch and Australian Governments; his
comprehensive records are in great demand by families of ex POWs.
All this work culminated in the opening of the
Thailand Burma Railway Centre in Kanchanaburi in January 2003.
The wealth of information resulting from this work and can be
accessed on the web site http://www.tbrconline.com |
Generous to a fault, he is always ready to respond
to appeals for help from families of POWs, despite the constant demands
and pressures on his time. This is a typical example.
The following story I wrote for the Barb Wire &
Bamboo Magazine and will demonstrate my admiration for Rod and his work:
Another Rod Beattie Story
We hear a lot of tales about Rod Beattie - most of
them are complimentary, a few are critical. Here is a real story about
one of the youngest POWs of the Japanese with a happy conclusion. It
also illustrates again the vital role Rod plays, this being just one
of the many stories he has been involved in.
Errol Davis’s father was an Englishman who was
a Malay Straits Settlements Volunteer. Captured at the fall of Singapore,
his wife and baby son born in December 1941 were interned there for
the duration, with no word of husband and father. Upon her release at
the end of the war, Errol’s mother was told of her husband’s
death. She subsequently married another British POW who took her back
to U.K.
Errol grew up not knowing of his real father. When
he did find out, his efforts to learn of his father’s fate from
the British Government were unsuccessful, mainly because his father
was not a member of the British Forces.
I met Errol at a POW lunch in Mandurah and when I learnt
of his story I put him in touch with Rod Beattie. The following exchange
is a challenge to those claiming that the TBRC is a commercial operation
only.
Although Rod Beattie lives a busy life with his many
activities (Curator of the two War Cemeteries, manager of the Railway
Centre, Operator of a gem export business, husband and father of three
small daughters) he immediately sat down and responded to this appeal.
Here is the exchange of messages:
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Dear Rod,
Neil MacPherson referred me to you when I told
him I was having trouble finding details of my father who died
at Kami Songkurai on the 4th Nov. 1943 of beri-beri. I was a Child
POW born on 22/12/41 in Malacca and was interned in Changi and
Outram Road.
Can you tell me if you have any details of my
father's grave and in particular his age/DOB.
His details: 80475 Cpl William Edward Davis, Straits Settlements
Volunteer Force. Nationality English, born in Singapore. I realise
you are very busy but I am at my wit’s end trying to find
out about my father. Any info would be appreciated. I hope to
come to Thailand next year with Neil.
Regards,
Errol Davis. |
Rod’s immediate reply was:
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Dear Errol,
The information I have is that your father was
a member of 'F' Force. This group of 7,000 Australian and British
PoW's left Singapore in April 1943. Your father had to march the
300 kilometres to Changaraya, a British camp just across the border
in Burma. In August this camp was abandoned and the survivors
moved a short distance southwards to the Australian camp of Kami
Songkurai. As you know he died at Kami Songkurai on 4th October
1943 of beri beri. He was originally buried in Grave Number 347
of the Kami Songkurai Cemetery.
Post war his body was re-buried in Thanbyuzayat
War cemetery in Grave Number B3. Z12. At the time of his death
William was aged 30. The records I have show William as the son
of Frederick and Constance Davis of Middlesex, England.
Should you have the chance to get to Thailand
it is possible to visit the site of both these camps - but only
with the only person who knows where these camps were. Neil may
have mentioned that I have spent many years locating the old railway
in Thailand and some in Burma as well.
Quite a bit has been written about 'F' Force.
I have some original records as well as later reports and books.
I have attached two small photographs of the old railway near
Changaraya.
I hope this information helps,
Rod Beattie. |
Errol had spent fruitless years in his search for his
father’s fate, the response to his appeals to the British Government
for information was that they did not keep records of British Nationals
who served in the Malay Forces, despite Malaya being a British Colony
and run by British Authorities.
Over the past 8 years I have exchanged with
Rod the results of my own research and he has been most helpful
and generous in offering the results of his research.
One of my questions involved the conflict of
information on where the railway crossed from Burma into Thailand.
How could the railway cross the border at the Three Pagoda Pass
111 kilos from Thanbyuzayat yet still be in Burma at the 112,
115 and 116 kilo camps?
Rod had no problem in supplying the answer, the
result of his years of work in the field.
Here is the explanation, which Rod so clearly
demonstrated. As an Engineer he also surveyed a more sensible
route, which is shown on the map. |
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The border between Thailand and Burma was agreed
upon by the British Administration in Burma and the Thai Government.
In general it follows the top of the mountain range between the
two countries. However at The Three Pagodas a special variation
was made. The Three Pagodas were built hundreds of years ago to
mark the scene of a battle between the Thais and Burmese. As such
they are of particular significance to the Thais
and had to be included in Thai territory. Hence the long finger
of Thai territory intruding into Burma.
For some political reason the Thais got the
Japanese to build the railway up and over the hill beside The
Three Pagodas rather than take the sensible route of following
the contours around the hill. This meant a long steep gradient
for trains travelling in both directions.
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| Click for larger images |
The obvious sign that one had crossed into Thailand
was by passing the three small chedis sitting on top of a hill
since the railway passed within twenty some) or so of the chedis.
Photos attached of chedis then and now. Note railway telegraph
pole very close to the chedis. For those who may not have looked
before try our website www.tbrconline.com
Regards from a fellow researcher,
Rod Beattie. |
Finally, here is one more example of Rod’s
depth of knowledge and access to official records. One of the projects
I am working on is to record details of the 3000 Australians who reached
Japan and spent time in Japanese camps.
267 Australians died in Japan, Korea and Hainan Island,
however only 237 have graves in the Yokohama War Cemetery. Where are
the other 30 graves?
The answer provided by Rod was this: At the end of
the war many Australian POWs seized the ashes of their mates from the
Japanese and carried them as far as Manila. The Australian Government
has a long standing rule that their servicemen killed overseas (unlike
the Americans, who repatriate their dead) must be buried in the area
where they died, hence the number of Allied War Cemeteries overseas.
Those ashes from Japan were confiscated and now have graves at the Labuan
War Cemetery in Borneo and can be located on Commonwealth War Graves
Commission web site – www.cwgc.org
All very well, but there remained another mystery -
graves of three of the Australian POWs who died in Japan are not in
Yokohama or Labuan - again Rod solved the mystery.
James Stewart Nicol,
Charles Frederick Ward and William Thomas
Leonard are buried in Section 82 Collective Grave Nos 1B, 1C
and 1D, St Louis National Cemetery, USA.
All three died at Fukuoka No 1 Camp; because
of a shortage of urns several lots of ashes were stored together in
large urns. Because these Australian ashes were mixed with American
ashes the US authorities insisted on their removal to America.
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