opfmirror.blogg.se - Bridge on the river kwai book

It will be pleasant work, requiring skill, and officers will work as well as men. You British prisoners have been chosen to build a bridge across the River Kwai. I am the commanding officer of this camp, which is Camp 16 along the great railroad which will soon connect Bangkok with Rangoon. In the name of His Imperial Majesty, I welcome you.

We're going to be a busy pair of gravediggers.

And then there were some who just got tired of living. Other causes of death: famine, overwork, bullet wounds, snake bites, Saito.

Mostly Aussies, some Lime, some British, Indians, Burmese, Siamese.They died, of malaria, dysentery, beriberi, gangrene.

He found little enough of it while he was alive. what did he die for?.I don't mock the grave or the man.

Here lies Corporal Herbert Thompson, serial number 01234567, valiant member of the King's own, and Queen's own, or something, who died of beriberi in the year of our Lord 1943.

You have survived with honour, that and more: here in the wilderness, you have turned defeat into victory. What you have done, should be, and I think will be, an example to all our countrymen, soldier and civilian alike. But one day, in a week, a month, a year, on that day when God willing, we all return to our homes again, you're going to feel very proud of what you have achieved here in the face of great adversity. I don't know whether that kind of thinking is very healthy, but I must admit I've had some thoughts on those lines from time to time. Particularly in comparison with other men's careers. And you wonder, you ask yourself, what the sum total of your life represents, what difference your being there at any time made to anything, or if it made any difference at all really. But there are times when suddenly you realise you're nearer the end than the beginning. I don't suppose I've been at home more than ten months in all that time. Tomorrow it will be 28 years to the day that I've been in the service. Not a gang of slaves, but soldiers, British soldiers, Clipton, even in captivity. And I hope that the people that use this bridge in years to come will remember how it was built and who built it. It's essential that they should take a pride in their job. We'll show them what the British soldier is capable of doing.It's going to be a proper bridge. It isn't going to be easy, but fortunately, we have the means at hand, the bridge.We can teach these barbarians a lesson in Western methods and efficiency that will put them to shame.

Thanks to the Japanese, we now command a rabble. I tell you, gentlemen, we have a problem on our hands.