A HOLLYWOOD man will make an emotional return to Taiwan where, as a Royal Navy stoker, he witnessed the surrender of Japanese troops, heralding the end of the Second World War.

Sam Pearsall, 79, is making the trip thanks to the Big Lottery Fund's Heroes Return scheme.

Mr Pearsall joined the Royal Navy in March 1943 on his 17th birthday - lying about his age.

Within weeks he was drafted as a stoker to HMS Barle in Scotland and was then granted 48 hours leave.

He spent it with his sisters and mother who was unaware her son had lied about his age to enlist.

"After leave we went down to meet an ammunition ship and sailed immediately on a Malta convoy," recalls Mr Pearsall.

"When we arrived, the siege of Malta had finished, but we were still getting attacked heavily. We came under a couple of air and U-boat attacks.

"As a stoker we worked in watches divided into four hours.

"The heat was severe. We had a dishcloth we called a sweat rag, were just constantly wiping the sweat from our bodies."

The ship stayed in the Mediterranean for 18 months then sailed to Taiwan for the Japanese surrender 60 years ago this week.

"We assisted with prisoners of war there - most of them stretcher cases - we carried them on board the hospital ship and then went to Hong Kong.

"We eventually returned home when I was in my twenties."

Mr Pearsall will travel to Taiwan with the Heroes Return scheme at the end of the month.

The £17 million scheme has so far given awards to 237 veterans, spouses, widows and carers who will travel overseas to remember comrades who did not return from the 1939-45 war.