Khao Kho Sacrificial Monument

Khao Kho Sacrificial Monument is a 24-metre marble triangular monument on the Khao Kho ridge in Phetchabun, built to honour the soldiers, police, and civilians killed fighting communist insurgents in these hills between roughly 1965 and 1982. Entry is free, open daily 07:00-17:00, and the names of the dead are inscribed at the monument’s base. (The clunky “Information and Travel Videos” that used to trail this page’s title was leftover page furniture from the source listing, not part of the site’s actual name.)

The monument’s triangular marble form is visible from much of the Khao Kho ridge road before you reach it — a stark, modern counterpoint to the temples and viewpoints that otherwise dominate the district. Paths lead around the base, past the inscribed panels, to a terrace with views over the surrounding valleys and peaks. On clear mornings, mist often sits in the lower hills below the monument’s elevation, one of the more striking outlooks in a district built largely around scenic overlooks.

The mood here is deliberately solemn rather than a casual scenic stop — Thai visitors come specifically to pay respects, and the site gets less foot traffic than Khao Kho’s photogenic temples nearby. Morning is quietest and coolest; by afternoon, mountain haze can dull the long-distance views.

Khao Kho’s remote, forested terrain made it a Communist Party of Thailand stronghold through the 1970s, and the fighting here was some of the fiercest of the wider insurgency before the government’s 1980s amnesty programme brought most fighters down from the hills. That history is why this district — otherwise known today for strawberry farms, coffee shops, and viewpoints — carries this monument, the nearby weapon museum, and several smaller memorial markers along the ridge road. It’s worth knowing that context before arriving, since the site itself offers few English-language explanations beyond the inscribed names.

The monument sits within Phetchabun’s Khao Kho highland district, an easy stop alongside Khao Kho Royal Palace and the area’s other memorial sites. Insider Tip: pair it with Itti Base rather than visiting alone — the weapon museum supplies the hardware and unit history that the monument itself, being a memorial rather than a museum, doesn’t explain on-site.