Individual Details

Death

GEORGE DEVEREAUX TEMPLER
Sapper - 920
Johore Volunteer Engineers
who died on
Saturday, 21st August 1943. Age 25.
Additional Information: Son of George Walter and Beatrice Elizabeth Templer, of Bournemouth, Hampshire.

Commemorative Information
Cemetery: THANBYUZAYAT WAR CEMETERY, Myanmar
Grave Reference/
Panel Number: 66. C. 19.
Camp Kami Sonkrai, Thailand

http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Cemeteries/Thanbyuzayat_War_Cemetery/html/thailand_-_burma_railway.htm
The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar).

Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre.

The Japanese aimed at completing the railway in 14 months and work began in October 1942. The line, 424 kilometres long, was completed by December 1943.

The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma-Siam railway (except for the Americans, whose remains were repatriated) were transferred from camp burial grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar.

Thanbyuzayat became a prisoner of war administration headquarters and base camp in September 1942 and in January 1943 a base hospital was organised for the sick. The camp was close to a railway marshalling yard and workshops, and heavy casualties were sustained among the prisoners during Allied bombing raids in March and June 1943. The camp was then evacuated and the prisoners, including the sick, were marched to camps further along the line where camp hospitals were set up. For some time, however, Thanbyuzayat continued to be used as a reception centre for the groups of prisoners arriving at frequent intervals to reinforce the parties working on the line up to the Burma-Siam border. Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery was created by the Army Graves Service who transferred to it all graves along the northern section of the railway, between Moulmein and Nieke.

There are now 3,149 Commonwealth and 621 Dutch burials of the Second World war in the cemetery.

The village of Thanbyuzayat is 65 kilometres from Moulmein, and the war cemetery lies at the foot of the hills which separate the Union of Myanmar from Thailand. At present the only way in which the cemetery may be visited is by train. This is a long and uncomfortable journey and three days should be allocated. Only those in good health should attempt the journey. Prior permission is needed to travel to the cemetery, which is close to areas of unrest. Enquiries about the possibility of obtaining permission to visit the cemetery should be made to the nearest Union of Myanmar (Burmese) Embassy, or a Commonwealth Embassy in Yangon (Rangoon).

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
BRADPOLE
DORSET
ENGLAND

IN MEMORY OF GEORGE WALTER TEMPLER DIED 26TH JAN 1939 AGED 59 AND OF HIS GALLANT SON GEORGE DEVEREUX TEMPLER OF THE JOHORE VOLUNTEER ENGINEERS MALAYA DIED 21ST AUG 1943 AGED 25 IN THE JAPANESE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP KAMI SONKRAI THAILAND IN THE WAR OF 1939 - 1945. THEY ARE AT PEACE

THE JOHORE VOLUNTEER ENGINEERS (JVE) 258 (Vol. Force Record Office postwar CO820/67)
Principally European planters. The only one of Johore forces to fight in both Johore and Singapore. So named to avoid confusion with the existing "JVF" raised by the Sultan of Johore. JVE was organised from SSVF Volunteer HQ with training etc. But fell under Australian command. Re-allocated itself to the Argylls in Singapore briefly.

TEMPLER G.D. [George Devereaux] born 12.10.1918. To Malaya 1938. Assistant Planter, Rubber Estates of Malaya, Kota Tinggi, Johore. Sapper 920 JVE POW Singapore to Thailand with F Force 29.4.43. Died in captivity 21.8.43 [25] Songkurai. Grave at Thanbyuzayat.

His POW index card will be in box WO 345/51 at National Archives, Kew.

'F' Force suffered more than any other work force that left Singapore for Thailand/Burma in 1942/1943 and Songkurai
[various spellings] was just a total nightmare. You can read about this in Brian MacArthur's widely available book
'Surviving the Sword.'

G.D.T. would have been in the Kota Tinggi section of the JVE. A planter called Alex Archer was in the section and wrote about his experiences in a little book called 'The Way it Was.'

Burial

Reburial in War Cemetary