80 Years On: Thai Man Wants to Return Soldiers' Remains to Japan

   Long, Thailand, Aug. 3 (Jiji Press)--A Thai man who built a memorial to Japanese soldiers killed by members of a Thai resistance group during World War II hopes that their remains will be returned to their home country.
   The memorial in the Long district in Phrae Province, northern Thailand, was built by Puchong, 83, a local man whose father was a member of the Free Thai resistance group, which fought against Imperial Japan.
   During World War II, Japan allied with Thailand, using the Southeast Asian country as a base for operations in India and Burma, now Myanmar.
   Thais dissatisfied with the alliance formed the anti-Japanese group, which expanded its presence in the country with support from the Allied forces.
   According to Puchong, whose father was a senior member of the group in the province, the two Japanese soldiers died in a gunfight with Free Thai fighters in the Wiang Ta subdistrict in Long about two years before the end of the war.

(2025/08/03-19:43)

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