By Joanna Hill-Tout BBC Wales News Online

Reginald Campbell Gabriel (centre, back row) with his regiment

Reg Gabriel joined the Territorial Army's 77th Welsh Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment at the beginning of the Second World War.

He was eventually stationed on the Indonesian island of Java. All was fine until the Dutch occupation was brought to an end by the invading Japanese army in 1940.

For the next three years and 10 months he was a prisoner of war.

The dead should be cherished. They gave everything but received nothing Reginald Campbell Gabriel

Recalling the day of his capture, he said: "It was the 21st birthday of one of the Dutch men who had been taken with us.

"Not knowing the Japanese psyche, the Dutchman said to three others that it would be a good idea to celebrate by going under the wire of our camp and into the village for a drink.

Graves

"So they did and on their way back they were spotted by a Japanese guard and ordered to dig four graves.

"Each of them was made to stand at the end of the grave and then they were shot."

"That was his birthday celebration and that was the first indication we had of how we would be treated."

Over the next three years Mr Gabriel went from being 12 stone down to a skeletal six.

"We were only given a handful of rice three times a day," he said.

Along with his fellow soldiers, he was moved several times during the war and ended up in a Japanese camp, where they hoped to receive red cross parcels with food in them, but never saw any.

Reginald Campbell Gabriel was captured in 1940

One night, he said, a fellow prisoner, driven almost to distraction with hunger, tried to steal one.

"He burrowed into the store cupboard but was caught," he explained.

"He was taken to a soldier's office and kept there for a few days."

But when he was released Mr Gabriel said they could not recognise him.

"When the Japanese went in there they would kick him in the face. I've never seen anything like it."

When Mr Gabriel eventually left for home he said he felt and looked like a zombie.

"I could not walk properly - it was and still is a bit of a blur," he said.

"Throughout the experience we didn't get any letters and I'd say to myself 'I must get home to my parents.' I had to hang on to something.

"But when I eventually got home at the end of October 1945 it was for my father's funeral."

He said he is pleased that he has the chance each year to remember his lost friends but they are such painfully sad memories for him.

"It's unbelievable how cruel man can be to man. War is useless, it doesn't achieve anything."

But, he added: "We need to remember. The dead should be cherished.

"They gave everything but received nothing."