During a visit to the River Kwai we walked over the bridge. Two of the spans were bombed by the Japs during the war, it was ironic to see printed on the two replacement spars "Made in Japan". Has anyone else noticed this.
I am going to take a wild stab and suggest there was some motive behind this, maybe a "we broke it, so we will fix it for you" type issue. But maybe thats being a bit too hopeful or probably silly.
The bridge was actually bombed in January 1945 by the US 493rd Bomb Squadron, which at that time carried out extensive bombing raids on the Thai-Burma railway. Check these links: http://home.att.net/~oldchinahands/azon_bomb.htm http://www.455th.ukpc.net/tomfeise/455th/458azon.htm The Azon (azimuth only) bomb was a very early type of smart bomb and was used successfully against the railway, but the raid on the bridge which destroyed it was from low level using conventional bombs. The bridge was a steel and concrete construction, not the wooden structure depicted in the movie. And of course the reason why it was not bombed by the Japanese is that it was their bridge.
Just out of interest, I visited the movie site of the bridge in Sri Lanka two years ago. All that is left are the piling holes in the stone banks. interesting talking to the area residents whose parents where extras in the film.