Ahead of the 80th anniversary of VJ Day on Friday 15 August, Kenilworth Nub News is sharing a short series on the town's connections to the Second World War and the war in the Pacific. The town will mark VJ Day with a short service at the Abbey Fields war memorial at 11am on Friday.

Today's feature is written by Miles Wyatt-Smith - administration & facilities assistant at Kenilworth Town Council.

As the world commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific this week, the story of Rupert Wyatt-Smith — a former rubber plantation manager in Malaya — offers a sobering insight into the suffering endured by thousands of civilians and soldiers during the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia.

In December 1941, as Japanese forces swept into northern Malaya, Rupert Wyatt-Smith made the decision to part from his family for their safety. He took his wife and two young children to Singapore, where they managed to board a boat bound for Australia.

They would spend the remainder of the war there. Rupert, however, chose to stay behind, joining the Civil Defence Force to assist in resisting the Japanese advance.

When Singapore fell in February 1942 and Governor Sir Shenton Thomas formally surrendered to the Japanese, Rupert was among the thousands of civilians and military personnel taken as prisoners.

Like many, he was marched to the now-infamous Changi Prison carrying what little he could.

"Little did I know when I walked to Changi that I would spend the next three years of my life there," Rupert later wrote in memoirs he kept.

"It had been built and used as a prison before the war, and when I was there, it must have held about two thousand men."

Rupert was placed in a section that had once been a workshop. Over a hundred men lived and slept there, shoulder to shoulder, with little privacy or comfort. They wore nothing but loincloths, as clothing quickly wore away and supplies were non-existent.

Early on, the Japanese forces sorted prisoners by age. "When they read my passport, they said, 'No, too old' and shook their heads," he recalled.

"They took everyone under forty and sent them to Burma to work on the railway. Very few of these came back."

Survival in Changi was brutal. Meals consisted of little more than watery rice husk porridge in the morning and a mug of rice with green leaves in the afternoon. "Our weight loss was gradual, and we were not aware of how emaciated we were becoming," Rupert wrote.

At one point, he noticed a man entering the shower block who looked like a "walking skeleton." A fellow prisoner told him: "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You look a lot worse."

From his original weight of 12 stone (76kg), Rupert had withered to just seven stone (44kg) by the time of his release.

His time in captivity was marked by brutality and fear. He described witnessing a fellow prisoner being kicked to death by Japanese soldiers for reasons unknown. "I kept out of the

way of Japanese officers as much as possible," he said. "There was no point asking for trouble."

The Japanese guards often patrolled with drawn swords. Every time one entered a room, prisoners were required to stand to attention and bow.

After two years in Changi, Rupert was transferred to Sime Road Camp with the survivors of the Burma Railway. Though not a formal prison, Sime Road offered slight improvements. Prisoners were able to grow vegetables, easing the constant hunger. But for Rupert, the damage was already done.

He was suffering from beriberi, a disease caused by vitamin B1 deficiency, which left his feet grossly swollen and in constant pain. He also battled scabies and extreme fatigue.

"When the end actually came, I was in no state to enjoy it," he admitted.

The war ended in August 1945. Rupert recalled the moment freedom arrived: "We saw parachutes dropping around us, and the Japanese ran off as soon as they saw them. They were Gurkhas. Lots of people ran outside to meet them, but my feet were too bad for me to walk that far."

After a six-week voyage home via Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Suez, Rupert finally returned to Liverpool.

Rupert Wyatt-Smith's story is a reminder of the courage and endurance of those who suffered behind barbed wire and prison walls.