SECOND World War veteran Charles Leslie has written his account of the four gruelling years he spent as a prisoner of war in the Far East.

Mr Leslie, 78, of Fernside, Hazlemere, was an engineer in the RAF when he was captured by the Japanese in Java, in March 1942.

He started to write his experiences, Just a Few Memories, after his wife died.

He said: "She always wanted me to write it down. When she died (in 1996) I started writing it, really in memory of my wife."

His story impressed an Australian couple who visited him recently, and they decided to take a copy back with them to Australia to take around to schools.

The memories of his time as a POW are still painful. He said: "It wasn't easy to write it. I still get a little bit upset by it.

"I felt that the younger generation should know just what some of the people did for them in the war."

One of his stories is about the time he spent on the Island of Ambon, in the Pacific. The prisoners were there to build an airstrip on the coral beach.

He wrote: "Whilst here I started to go blind, it was the dazzle of the sun on the brilliant white coral.

"We used to work from daylight until dusk, then return to the camp for our meal, which was watery soup and rice."

Mr Leslie sold his signet ring, given to him by his wife Cynthia, in order to buy food from the natives on the island. The ring probably helped to save his life.

He added: "Of the 1,500 men that went to Ambon, only 115 survived."

Mr Leslie said that only one Red Cross parcel arrived for the prisoners.

He wrote: "We had no medicine or bandages, we had to strip the trunks of the banana tree of its fibre then lay it out to dry, then wrap your wound the best you could."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.