A FORMER prisoner of war has made a remarkable journey across the world to remember his old comrades.

Maurice Crowther, from Selby, was only 18 when he left his job as an upholsterer to join the 122 Royal Artillery Regiment with his best friend Norman Wood, and was posted to Singapore.

He became a Far East Prisoner of War (FEPOW) after the fall of Singapore, and ended the war in Japan, where he worked in the coal mines near Nagasaki when the H bomb dropped.

Now 91, Mr Crowther has made an emotional return to Singapore – one of the places he was held as a prisoner.

He said: “My regiment was disbanded immediately after the war and it is only through my recent research that I realised it is now known as the ‘forgotten regiment’.

“For me, it is important that my comrades are far from forgotten. When I read in the paper that I could get Lottery funding to go back, I knew it was my opportunity to find Norman’s grave.

“It was important for me to be able to lay a wreath, and in January of this year that is what I got to do.” Mr Crowther is one of 51,000 people who have made commemorative trips through funding from the BIG Lottery Fund’s Heroes Return scheme He said the area was “completely unrecognisable from its jungle days”.

His friend Norman was dispatched to the bridge on the River Kwai when he was captured, and subsequently died of ill health due to the appalling conditions at the camp.

Mr Crowther’s daughter, Julie, accompanied her father to Singapore, where he visited Norman’s grave, and said she hoped it would be a way of finding out more about his life during the war.

“It is something he rarely talks about. In fact it was only last year that I heard him talking to his granddaughter and great-grandson about his experiences and this is probably the first time he had properly opened up.

“I think the Heroes Return visit really helped him close the circle and finding Norman’s grave was a memorable moment for both of us.”

The National Lottery has donated more than £27 billion to 370,000 voluntary and community groups, arts, education, sport, heritage, environment and health projects across the UK since 1994, including Selby Abbey, Thorganby Village Hall and Selby Citizens Advice Bureau.