Prisoner of the rising sun

"I was told that because a regular signalman had failed to return from leave, and because mine was the last name alpabetically on the list of new boys, I was being sent in his place."When the author joined the Royal Navy in 1940, he could never have imagined the nightmare experiences that lay ahead of him. We learn of his part in the Battle for Hong Kong and how he was taken prisoner. Held initially in prison-of-war camps, he was then transported to Japan in the hold of a "hell-ship" under inhuman conditions. Once in Japan the survivors were used as slave labour. Treatment was harsh but their spirit was never broken. It was during this period that the author experienced both an earthquake and American B29 fire raids.