118972 Accession Number: 118972

Description

Phetburi, Thailand. 23 September 1945. Private R. H. Dalrymple of the 25th Australian Dental Unit, standing next to an improvised dental chair used in the Phetburi prisoner of war (POW) camp. Phetburi (Petchaburi) lies approximately 160 kilometres south of Bangkok on the Singapore-Thailand railway. Following completion of the Burma-Thailand railway in 1943, the surviving POWs were concentrated in the Kanchanaburi area. From there, numerous working parties were dispatched in 1944-45 to various locations in Burma, Thailand and Indo China. Phetburi was one of these locations. The camp was built by Australian POWs in February 1945. At one period 2,500 mixed POWs were quartered in the camp, and employed on aerodrome construction. The completed tarmac, never used by the Japanese, was used by Allied aircraft to evacuate surviving POWs at the end of the war.

Details

Conflicts

• Second World War, 1939-1945

Places

• Phetburi

Units

• Dental units

Tags

• Prisoners of war
• Dentistry
• Inventions and improvisations