His artillery regiment sailed to Singapore and was waiting on the Malay Peninsula for the Japanese invasion. After two months of fighting they retreated to Singapore, where they were captured by the Japanese Imperial Army at the Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942. He was interned for three and a half years at Changi Prison as a Prisoner of War.

After 14 months, he was sent from Changi in F Force to work on the Thailand-Burma Railway. He was in Thailand for five months from April to August 1943, and at the completion of the Railway, he returned to Changi where he was in Kranji, a PoW Hospital on Singapore Island for two years until August 1945. He finally returned home in October 1945 — five years after he had enlisted.

This work has been produced in recognition of the conditions he endured and survived during World War II and of the 2,802 Australians who died on the Railway. It is written not to recriminate, but with a wish to record and so remember what humans can do to each other.

Lest we forget.