Countess Mountbatten of Burma: Guest of honour

The Japanese forces caught British military planners by surprise by attacking the supposedly impregnable island from the rear and fighting through thick jungle.

Many of the prisoners were forced to work on the notorious Thailand-Burma railway.

More than a hundred PoWs and civilian internees are expected to attend the reunion, including Fergus Anckorn, who survived the horrific massacre at the Alexandra Hospital in Singapore when Japanese troops burst into the wards and bayoneted medical staff and patients.

Russell Wright of the Australian Imperial Force and Captain James Mudie of the Royal Corps of Signals, are expected to bring wireless equipment which they secretly made and operated in captivity despite great risk to their lives.

Also expected to attend is Genevieve Evans, an infant internee in Changi prison, who believes that she would have died had it not been for the kindness of a Japanese guard.