Wampo, Wang Pho 114k – 300.88kms Thailand ***
There were 3 camps at Wampo being North, Central and South. The Australians were bought in to assist the British with work that consisted of earth moving for an embankment. The path for the railway alongside the River Kwae Noi had been progressing steadily in preparation for the construction of viaducts at the 103km and 109km points. The pressure was on to finish the job and shifts were worked around the clock. The final shift produced a thirty hour spurt of energy with no doubt a measure of Japanese Engineer’s standover tactics that would see the embankment job through to its finale. D Force, T Battalion finished their work and marched north for two and a half days to join S Battalion in the area of Kanu II camp, dropping their sick at Tarsau on the 8th May, 1943.
One of the viaducts at Wampo was the Double Viaduct, a wooden bridge perhaps not unlike the Pack of Cards Bridge at Hintok that was at least 400 yards long and built around the side of the cliff face, supported 25 feet above the River Kwae Noi. There was then a gap of about 600 yards, followed by another viaduct in the region of 150 yards long, hence the name Double Viaduct.
Wampo – Tavoy Escape Road
Neville Matson was on this party. The task was to cut a 3 metre wide escape road from Wampo through to Tavoy, which was located across the border near the Burmese coast. The distance between Wampo and Tavoy was approximately 110kms as the crow flies, however the actual distance taking into account rugged terrain was considerably further. The escape road was completed on 5th June 1945, however, Neville Matson was evacuated sick from Tavoy to Nacompaton Hospital on 22nd May. Like most other camps the Japanese were uncooperative when it came to improvement of conditions, rations and medicines. Surprisingly only 13 deaths occurred among this group and the majority of these were as a result of Malaria.
