A SOLDIER who survived the shameful fall of Singapore and imprisonment by the Japanese had the last laugh on his captors.

Evan Jasper was a member of the 18th Division of the 1st Cambridgeshire Regi-ment and was only in Singapore for three weeks when it fell to the Japanese in February 1942.

He concurs with the view it was one of the low points of the war for Britain.

He said: "It was the worst experience of my life.

"When we got there we were bombed, shelled and mortared, already Malaya had been taken. We were just there as a stop-gap - it was a disaster."

More was to follow as he spent three-and-a-half-years as a Japanese POW on the notorious Burma Railway struggling to survive along with thousands of other British troops.

Mr Jasper, 83, of Wyre Hill, Bewdley, said: "It was complete hell. We weren't supposed to be treated like animals but we were."

He suffered starvation, the wet, total lack of sanitation, mud, slime and the sight of comrades dying of cholera or being shot by their captors.

But he had some satisfaction when he saw the wooden bridge on the River Kwai destroyed by an American bomber - although it was a near miss for him.

He was returning on a ration wagon when he heard what he thought to be an American B-29 bomber in the skies.

He warned his captor a B-29 was approaching but "he just laughed and said the (Japanese) zero was the number one bomber and could bomb the bridge 'no problem'' '.

The next instant the American aircraft dropped a 1,000 lb bomb which destroyed the bridge.

But his crowning glory came at the end of the war.

After marching 230 miles through the jungle carrying Japanese equipment and having to burn the body of a colleague in a clearing, who had fallen victim to cholera, they were called together.

They were told they were free after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

At first they were suspicious but the next day a British paratrooper dropped in to confirm the news.

Mr Jasper said: "He asked me if there were any Japs in the vicinity as he'd come to take the commanding officer.

"He then asked me to go across and tell him to come over with his sword.

"It was a great thrill for me.

"The officer approached me, saluted me and gave me the sword.

"I gave it to the fellow who asked me if I wanted to keep it - I said no thanks, I've seen enough of those to last me a lifetime."