Don’t read this book if you want facts and figures about circumstances in World War II. Don’t read this book if you want the details about a battle or the strategy used in leading up to a particular period in the war. But read this book if you want to know about the ordinary guys who were caught up in the global war during the 1940s, many of them young men, just finding their way in life, and who saw a career in the Services as adventure and travel. Little did they know what was to befall them in 1941!

Read this book if you’re interested in understanding how, by accident and luck, I was able to piece together the circumstances surrounding my father’s capture and imprisonment. By investigating the lives of other servicemen who ended up in POW camps in Japan I’ve been able to tell my father’s story.

Each one of the chapters is a journey through time for those men as they approached the war, what happened to them in the war and what happened to them after the war.