Good morning everybody. My name is Kate English and I've been asked to speak to you today about a very special tour that I went on last year. A brief background on myself first: I am 18 and finished grade 12 last year at Mackay North State High School . This year I'm still living in Mackay and am training to be a pilot. I'm here today to tell you about what was the best experience I've ever had – the Debt of Honour Commemorative Tour that I was lucky enough to be a part of last year.

Basically, the tour concentrates on researching soldiers from Australia and also New Zealand who fought during WW1 or WW2 and then locating and visiting their graves or places of memorial overseas.

Thailand was the first leg of our tour and we arrived at Bangkok airport after our first overnight flight to meet Jack, who was to be our Thai guide for the next 3 days. Our tour began with a visit to the famous Bridge on the River Kwai. This was our first encounter with an actual remaining piece of WW2 history, and we got our first insight into how large an effort it must have been for soldiers to construct this railway in the heat and conditions that we knew they had had to endure.

After visiting the bridge, we travelled by train to the Wampo Viaduct. The fact that this track had been built into the side of a cliff using sheer manpower and no heavy machinery was very hard for us to believe and I think this was when we really started to gain a growing respect for the many diggers who had done this work.

The next day we travelled by bus out to old Hintok Station to begin our 3km trek along the railway to Hellfire Pass. The Australian Government has cleared a walking trail along a stretch of the actual railway, so were able to follow the old track through the jungle where much of the hardest and most torturous work had been done.

At the start of our hike, we passed through Hintok Cutting. This cutting is not the biggest cutting on the railway, but we were all just so amazed that the POW's had cut through these huge amounts of solid rock to create a railway and allow a train to go through.

After marvelling at the cutting, we proceeded with our walk. Although it was only early in the day, the heat was becoming pretty intense as we made our way through the jungle. We were all wearing appropriate walking clothes and good shoes and were still finding it tough work walking over the rocks and up and down the stairs that form the railway today. This was a really good indicator to us at just how hard it must have been for the POW's who had been in a far worse condition than us and I felt as if it would have been a little bit thoughtless to complain about anything when I thought back to what Australians like myself would have had to deal with in that very place 60 years ago.

The track that we were following came to an end at a place that we had seen many photos of and were anxious to get to – Hellfire Pass. No picture has done this cutting justice, and as we stood in the middle of it, it was so easy to see why it has been given the name Hellfire Pass. The height of the walls and the length of the cutting is incredible and I think everybody's respect for the diggers who had cut this rock grew as we took in the enormity of the place.

After spending some time by ourselves wandering around and taking in our surroundings, we began our first group memorial service for three soldiers who had fallen during construction of the railway under the brutal hand of the Japanese.

As was the proceedings with all of our commemorations, a eulogy was read for each of the soldiers by the student who had researched them. A wreath was laid in memorial of the soldiers and we then continued with the normal order of our services, which was the recital of the ode and then a tape recording of the Last Post, Reveille and the National Anthem.

I found this to be a very moving experience and I'm sure that many Australians would have felt the same had they been there too. Standing in the middle of Hellfire Pass with 24 other Australians and the sound of the Last Post echoing of the rock walls really sent shivers up my spine. I felt so proud of what we were doing and it made me see how important it is that every single Australian remembers and honour what these men did for us.

After the service, we completed our trek with a visit to the Hellfire Pass museum, which is located just above the cutting. This is a really good museum and one that we all enjoyed. We then visited the Weary Dunlop Musuem, Jack Chalker Gallery and a replica of a POW camp to end the day. I thought these were very interesting and one thing in particular fascinated me. In the Weary Dunlop Museum , there was a letter from a Japanese tourist who had visited the museum and in it they wrote that they had no idea about the cruelty the Japanese had dealt to the POW's on the railway. I couldn't believe that they had not been told about any of this and I think that it's terrible if the Japanese have tried to hide what they did.

On our third and final day in Thailand , we visited Kanchanaburi War Cemetery and Chungkai War Cemetery . To give you an idea at how much I was impressed by these cemeteries, this is what I wrote in my diary that day:

“I couldn't believe how beautiful the cemeteries were today. They're in such a foreign place, but when you walk through the Australian graves, it's like you are almost at home. I think the families of the men buried here would be happy to see how well kept and looked after the graves are”.

At Kanchanaburi, we had 8 men to commemorate who are buried in the cemetery. To honour these men, an individual ceremony was conducted at each of their graves. These were the first 8 individual grave commemorations we did out of about 50 on the trip, although we commemorated 73 men in total. Although it may seem like an awful lot of services to conduct in 3 weeks, I think, that it was such a small thing for us to do in return for the freedom we have because of these soldiers who laid down their lives for us, and I can tell you that right up until the last soldier commemoration that was made on the tour, every one of us stood and listened with utmost respect to the eulogy of every single man.

After the 8 individual commemorations, we held a group service in honour of all the allied soldiers and Asian labourers who served on the railway. During this service I had the job of reciting the ode. For me this was a very special experience and I felt very proud that I was able to say such a special poem in such a meaningful place.

We were joined at Kanchanaburi by Rod Beattie, an Australian who is responsible for much of the clearing of the railway walking trail and who knows a great deal about WW2 and every Australian soldier in the Kanchanaburi Cemetery . Rod has also opened a new museum across the road from the cemetery that is dedicated to the Thai-Burma railway.

After saying goodbye to Rod, we took a motor boat ride up the River Kwai to visit Chungkai War Cemetery . There are no Australians buried at Chungkai, but it is a very beautiful and peaceful cemetery. As you look out over these cemeteries, it really hits home just how many men died on the railway as there really is just a sea of graves in front of you.

In every cemetery we visited, we were given time to simply walk around and much of this time was spent reading all the different epitaphs on the headstones. As I soon discovered, the epitaphs that touched me most were the ones that said ‘Mum' on them. One of the saddest epitaphs I saw on the whole trip was at Chungkai. It said “Au Revoir, My Darling, Till we meet again, I hope in a better, happier world. Mum”.

Epitaphs like this were what made the tour so meaningful to me. They really made me see that at every cemetery or memorial we visited, every name on every wall or grave belonged to someone who had lived and had a family and whole life ahead of them. I think that is the true tragedy of war and everybody on the trip, including myself, came home with such great respect for every soldier who was willing to go off and give all of this up in dedication to their country.

The Debt of Honour tour was the most amazing thing I have ever done, and I know that I'm very lucky to have been able to be a part of it. I would encourage everybody to do something like this as it gives you such a huge appreciation of how lucky we are to be living here today. The only bad thing about the tour is that I am now hooked and can't wait to get back and just wander around these cemeteries all over again. It is an experience I definitely will never forget.

I'd like to finish today by thanking you all very much for listening today and by reading an epitaph that is on an Australian grave at Quinn's Post Cemetery , Gallipoli. I think the words would have meaning to any mother who lost a son, or in fact anyone who knows something of the tragedy of war.

The epitaph says, simply; “Some day, Some time, We'll Understand. Mum”.

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