ONE of the surviving sons of a family of seven captured by Japanese soldiers and held in a prisoner of war camp recalled the terrifying experience at a VJ Day ceremony on Sunday.

On December 1, 1941, six days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese troops invaded Hong Kong after massive bombardment of the dockyards.

Donald Osborne, now 86 and living in Woodstock, was 12-years-old when Japanese troops swarmed into the yard where his father worked and rounded up all the workers at gun point.

They included Mr Osborne, his father Alfred Osborne – who worked at the John Swires shipping plant at the Taikoo Dockyard in Hong Kong – his mother Bertha Osborne (nee Brown), and four brothers.

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Mr Osborne said: “I remember when the Japanese approached. Everyone thought they were going to come over land but they came by boat over the reservoir and we could see them in the distance.

“They came to the quarters where we lived and made us stand outside with machine guns pointing at us. It was only when someone explained to them that we were civilian personnel, not military, that they lowered their guns.”

Before the Japanese landed, Mr Osborne said John Swires had tried to get its workers away in two boats headed for the Philippines.

Mr Osborne’s family were on one of them but the other was torpedoed and sunk, killing all those on board, so the remaining boat turned back for Hong Kong.

Then the Japanese attacked. He said: “We were really lucky. I never saw what happened to the other boat, but I’m really glad I didn’t as we heard it had been terrible.”

The family were taken to the Stanley internment camp in another part of Hong Kong.

At the camp, Mr Osborne said his father refused to work so was given no food. The rest of the family had to divvy up their meagre rations – usually a bowl of rice per day – to share them with him.

Mr Osborne said: “There were lots of families all sleeping in the same room. The conditions weren’t as bad for us as they were for captured soldiers but it was still appalling.

“I was young so I just messed about most of the time and tried to find ways of getting food. I remember the guards used to hand out biscuits when you held out your hand.

He added: “I remember when the Australians came to liberate us in 1945 and all the young lads were rushing towards their boat. I heard one of them say ‘I’ve never seen so many skeletons’.

Mr Osborne was one of those who attended the service at the memorial alongside members of the Woodstock RBL.

Gordon Hollis, formerly of the 1st Battalion of the Ox and Buck Light Infantry and now vice-chairman of the Woodstock branch, said: “They were the forgotten army. Everybody celebrated VE Day but these chaps were still fighting on for another three months. They shouldn’t be forgotten now.”