If I may be permitted one final complicated Table, this presents the known causes of death by the period in which they occurred:
| period of death | |||||||
| COD | early42 | early43 | speedo | post | late | after | Total |
| abcess | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |||
| anemia | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| aneurysm | 1 | 1 | |||||
| appendix | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | |
| arthritis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| asthma | 1 | 1 | |||||
| beri-beri | 8 | 26 | 620 | 283 | 16 | 1 | 954 |
| bronchitis | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
| cancer | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | |||
| carditis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| cellulitis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| cerb embolism | 1 | 1 | |||||
| cerb hemo | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| cerb thrombosis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| cholera | 3 | 1041 | 15 | 1 | 1060 | ||
| cholera4 (presumed) | 22 | 22 | |||||
| cholera9 (presumed) | 13 | 3 | 1 | 17 | |||
| choleraB (presumed) | 19 | 4 | 23 | ||||
| cirrhosis | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| colitis | 2 | 92 | 4 | 1 | 99 | ||
| crush inj | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| debility | 2 | 52 | 19 | 73 | |||
| diabetes | 1 | 1 | |||||
| diphtheria | 10 | 6 | 29 | 1 | 46 | ||
| drowned | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
| dysentery | 64 | 78 | 1574 | 409 | 27 | 2 | 2154 |
| edema | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| empyema | 1 | 1 | |||||
| encephalitis | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| endocarditis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| enteritis | 4 | 5 | 100 | 16 | 2 | 127 | |
| epilepsy | 1 | 1 | |||||
| executed | 8 | 3 | 5 | 16 | |||
| exhaustion | 1 | 1 | |||||
| exposure | 2 | 2 | |||||
| fever | 1 | 1 | |||||
| fx hip | 1 | 1 | |||||
| fx neck | 1 | 1 | |||||
| fx skull | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| fx sternum | 2 | 2 | |||||
| gangrene | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| gastric dis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| gastritis | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Heat Exhaustion | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| hemorrhage | 1 | 1 | |||||
| hepatitis | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| hernia | 1 | 1 | |||||
| hrt dis | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| hrt dis nl | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| hrt failure | 5 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 26 | |
| influenza | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| injury nl | 9 | 1 | 2 | 12 | |||
| intestinal dis | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |||
| intestinal obs | 1 | 1 | |||||
| jaundice | 4 | 4 | 8 | ||||
| leptospirosis | 3 | 3 | |||||
| lighting | 1 | 1 | |||||
| liver dis | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| lung dis | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| malaria | 16 | 31 | 429 | 175 | 234 | 21 | 906 |
| malnutrition | 13 | 126 | 63 | 4 | 206 | ||
| meningitis | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |||
| myocarditis | 1 | 2 | 8 | 11 | |||
| nephritis | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 15 | |
| paralysis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| pellagra | 34 | 40 | 4 | 78 | |||
| pericarditis | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| peritonitis | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | ||
| pleurisy | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| pneumonia | 5 | 8 | 36 | 26 | 6 | 81 | |
| pulm edema | 1 | 1 | |||||
| pulm embolism | 1 | 1 | |||||
| renal dis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| scabies | 1 | 1 | |||||
| sepsis | 1 | 28 | 8 | 37 | |||
| septicemia | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 | ||
| skin dis | 8 | 8 | |||||
| smallpox | 4 | 2 | 6 | ||||
| suicide | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| supp of larynx | 1 | 1 | |||||
| TB | 4 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 26 | |
| thrombosis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| tonsillitis | 1 | 1 | |||||
| toxemia | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| TU | 180 | 65 | 3 | 248 | |||
| typhus | 3 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 20 | ||
| ulcer | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | ||
| uremia | 1 | 1 | |||||
| variola | 1 | 1 | |||||
| wounds | 7 | 2 | 163 | 172 | |||
| Total | 144 | 207 | 4522 | 1181 | 535 | 26 | 6615 |
| early42 | early43 | speedo | post | late | after |
Naturally, the workforce built up over time. Also quite obvious is that it was at its maximum during the Speedo period. The period labelled ‘post’ [1] is the consolidation period with much of the workforce still in the jungles slowly being moved to Kanchanaburi. The ‘late’ period is the longest from mid-1944 through the end of the war in AUG 1945. The ‘after’ category is the short period in 1945 of transition to repatriation. It goes against standard practice of data analysis that these periods are not of equal length [1], but I thought that they better depict the intensity of the construction effort. The Speedo period was six months long (MAY-OCT 43). Two-thirds of all deaths occurred during this period, with nearly 20% in the immediate post-construction period. I divided the ‘early’ arrivals into 1942 and 1943 in so far as it seems that those who arrived earliest in either Sector had a far better overall POW experience than those who came later. Other than the CAMP LISTS shown in Section 8.20, we do not have good denominators to define their experience in terms of the numbers present.
The conditions that I have categorized as ‘natural causes’ = not necessarily directly related to the POW experience, do seem to be somewhat front-loaded as to when they caused deaths.
By mid-1944, the majority of the POWs were consolidated to Kanchanaburi. It was a period of recuperation; the ‘late’ period. Food improved, there was little heavy work to be done, fewer demands in general. With the opening of the huge hospital in Nakorn Pathom (APR 44), medical care improved greatly as well. In short, few new problems were contracted by them, yet they continued to die of conditions encountered in the jungle.
The one item that seems to stand out is that of the 26 deaths that occurred following the cessation of hostilities, 21 were from malaria. Since malaria was endemic everywhere in Thailand in that era, it is quite likely that these were indeed new infections no matter where the POW was housed at that time. Most of those 21 are registered at the Prachuap camp. This is what I call a ‘follow-on’ camp like Nakorn Nayok and Petchburi, it is a place where POWs were transferred to from Kanchanaburi. Given that these arbitrary time periods are not of equal length [1], the malaria deaths seem more evenly distributed across every period. This would tend to make sense in that being bitten by a mosquito was not related to intensity of work nor truly to one’s location. Beri-beri, dysentery, pneumonia and even enteritis seem to be rather evenly distributed across the time span as well.
Half of the post-war deaths occurred among the Dutch POWs who stayed in Thailand much longer due to the unstable political situation on the DEI. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there were no ‘early’ deaths due to tropical ulcers. Oddly, the first registered TU death did not occur until JUL 43. Even among the US contingent in Burma, the first TU death was not recorded until that same month. Perhaps it was simply the slow progression of this condition that placed these deaths so late into the construction period.
[1] early42 = May-Dec 42; early43 = Jan-Apr 43; Speedo = May-Oct 43; post construction = Nov 43-May 44; late = Jun 44-Aug 45; after = Sep-Dec 45; post-war =1946-47 [not shown on this Table]
===================
To date (Dec 2024), I have identified 14812 deaths associated with the TBR. It is convenient to categorize these into 7 distinct periods.
| 0prior-TBR | 0.3% | 49 | 315 | prior |
| 1transit | 1.8% | 266 | 2.1% | |
| 2cons42 | 1.2% | 176 | ||
| 2cons43 | 4.5% | 662 | 71.2% | construction |
| 2speedo | 52.2% | 7730 | 10544 | |
| 3post | 13.3% | 1976 | ||
| 4after | 3.8% | 567 | 1362 | consolidation |
| 4late | 5.4% | 795 | 9.2% | |
| 5other | 2.4% | 354 | ||
| 5transit | 14.9% | 2204 | 2204 | to Japan |
| 6postwar | 0.2% | 33 | ||
| 14812 |
71% of all deaths occurred during the construction phase or in the immediate period following: 10544. For obvious reasons, the vast majority of all deaths (52%) occurred during the Speedo period (APR – OCT 43). That was the period of peak POW population marked by the arrival of the F & H Forces when horrendous physical and psychological demands were made combined with the outbreak of cholera.
Some 315 (2%) of the POWs died prior to working on the TBR (most were from Grp 1 who were sent to Burma prior to beginning work on the TBR) or while they were in transit to the TBR.
Following completion of the Railway, most of the men were first consolidated to the Kanchanaburi area. Soon thereafter, the F & H Force survivors were returned to Singapore. The exact number who died there due to their TBR maladies is uncertain. The few we can document are included in the 5-other period. Many of the deaths counted there were during the Mergui Road construction in 1944.
Even as overall conditions improved greatly and a true hospital was established at Nakorn Pathom, 1362 more died following the consolidation. A moderate number of these were KIA by friendly fire as the Allied bombing of the TBR continued into JUN 45. Reportedly, as many as 10,000 of the TBR veterans were intended to be trans-shipped to Japan; some only made it as far as Saigon. 2200 of these died when their Hellships were sunk en route. This 15% is the second highest of the periods.
For various reasons, a few hundred POWs (mostly Dutch) remained in Thailand following the end of the war. Even into 1946, 33 more deaths were recorded.
Depending on how one parses these deaths, the generally accepted figure of 12,000 POW deaths among the 61,000 POWs fits nicely. It would seem that one explanation of the difference between my 14,000 and the oft stated 12,000 is the 2200 TBR veterans who died on their way to Japan.
One of the seemingly undocumented claims are the approximately 700 POWs who died during their work on the HellFire Pass of whom some 70 were said to have been beaten to death.