James “Jim” Wren, one of the oldest surviving veterans of the Second World War, recounted his experience over a cup of tea at the Sarum Manor Care Home in Salisbury.
This comes before the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day), which marks the surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces on August 15 and the end of the Second World War.
Jim, a Royal Marines veteran, was on the Royal Navy ship HMS Repulse when it was torpedoed by the Japanese in December 1941.
He was captured in Singapore in February 1942 and held as a prisoner of war for three-and-a-half years.
He was still in captivity in August 1945 when the war ended.
The Duchess, patron of The Java Far East Prisoner of War Club 1942, asked if his family knew he had survived.
Jim said: “It wasn’t until the end of the war until they knew I was alive.
“So they suffered all this time.”
He sat with his family, including his daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, and great-granddaughters, as he shared his memories.
Son-in-law Andy Dables, daughter Denise Dables, great granddaughter Freya Dables, great granddaughter Ellie Dables, granddaughter Kirsty Dables, The Duchess of Edinburgh, and Jim (Image: Aaron Chown/PA Wire) The Duchess asked what had attracted him to serve in the Navy.
Jim replied: “Nothing attracted me to the Navy – I didn’t want to be in the Navy.”
He had tried to join the RAF and the Army at 19 but was turned down.
He then joined the Navy after his uncle, a retired Royal Marine, was recalled on reserve.
He completed an eight-month training course and was posted to the battlecruiser HMS Repulse in 1940.
He recounted the day his ship was sunk, saying: “It was around 11 o’clock in the morning, I was having a cup of tea on the mess deck, and the alarm was raised.
“I dropped my cup, and as I left the mess deck, the first bomb dropped right behind me.
“Fortunately, it didn’t explode – I was able to go down two or three decks before it exploded.
“It was torpedo after torpedo.”
He also remembered being captured by Japanese soldiers while trying to flee Singapore on a boat.
He said: “We didn’t know when our next meal was coming from or when our next drink was coming from.
“They had no idea how to deal with prisoners of war, the Japanese – no idea.”
He was held in Sumatra until his release after Japan’s surrender in 1945.
His son-in-law, Andy Dables, said Jim only started sharing his war memories when he was 99.
He said: “We are just impressed that he remembers everything – he’s as sharp as any.
“But you wouldn’t just forget anything like that, though, would you?”