Thousand Cups of Rice: Surviving the Death Railway

You are only a few remaining skeletons after the invasion of East Asia for the past few centuries and are pitiful victims. We will build the railroad if we have to {build} it over the white man's body. If you want anything, you will have to come through me. . . . and there will be many of you who will not see your homes again. Work cheerfully at my command.

-Lt. Col. Y. Nagatomo, Chief, No. 3 Branch, Thailand POW Administration, Nippon Expeditionary Force

With these words, thousands of Allied...