Monument to the Expeditionary Force

A stupa-shaped monument on the northwest corner of Sanam Luang, facing the National Museum across Na Phra That Road, commemorates the roughly 1,200 Thai soldiers Siam sent to fight in Europe during the First World War. It’s free, outdoors, and easy to combine with a Grand Palace or Wat Mahathat visit in Bangkok’s old quarter.

Siam declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary in July 1917, siding with the Allies. King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) authorised a call for volunteers on 19 June 1918, and the corps — infantry, aviation, and medical and transport units — departed Thailand the very next day for further training in France before reaching the front. Nineteen of them died in combat and were buried at Jube Court cemetery in the French war zone. The last surviving group didn’t return home until 21 September 1919; their fallen comrades’ ashes were interred at the monument three days later, on 24 September.

Prince Narisara Nuwattiwong, one of the era’s most accomplished royal architects, designed the memorial as a stupa in Srivijaya style rather than a Western-style statue or obelisk — a deliberate choice to fold a foreign war into a familiar Thai form. The names of the soldiers who died are carved into all four sides of the base. It’s a small, dignified structure rather than a dramatic one; there’s no visitor centre, no audio guide, just the monument itself and a low iron fence.

Thailand still marks 11 November — Armistice Day internationally — as Volunteer Soldiers Remembrance Day, with a wreath-laying ceremony held at the site. Outside that date, the monument sees a handful of visitors a day, mostly people cutting across Sanam Luang rather than making a dedicated trip, which makes it one of the quieter stops in an otherwise crowded historic district.

Insider Tip: Read the inscriptions before you visit the National Museum directly opposite — the museum has a small section on Thailand’s WWI involvement that adds context the monument itself doesn’t provide on-site.

Watch out: There’s no shade at the monument itself; visit early morning or late afternoon rather than midday, when the open ground of Sanam Luang gets genuinely hot.

Pair it with Sanam Luang itself and the Democracy Monument, both a short walk away in the same historic quarter.