WWII least we forget

Kanchanuburi is most famous for the Bridge Over the River Kwai which was the title of a WWII movie. During the last few days we have visited several museums and war memorials and we feel that they deserve a blog dedicated to the subject.
When the Japanese conquered Malay they acquired 100,000 allied prisoners of war- mostly Australian, Dutch, and British. The POWs were marched here and along with 200,000 basically conscripted Asian workers they were forced to build a supply railway through the mountains to Burma. In 2 years, 80%, yes 80% of the prisoners and workers died from injury, starvation, torture, and disease.
We visited Hellfire Pass and hiked a short distance of the now destroyed railway and it gave a real perspective of the heat and misery they suffered. The pass was built with only handtools to break the rock as men were pushed to work day and night 18 hours a day with no shoes, little food, clothing, and minimal medical care. The Australian government and Thai government have built a beautiful visitors center and a perpetual care cemetery in the center of town where 6,000 men are laid to rest. The American victims were all sent home for burial.
If there is one lasting thought we bring away from this trip is man's everlasting capacity for cruelty and hate towards one another. No ethnic group or country on earth is innocent- is it.