A PRISONER of war from Mill End publishes his memoirs this month.

Sergeant Major Eric Burgoyne, of Tudor Way, used his £10,000 compensation, awarded by the Government two years ago, to publish The Tattered Remnants, an autobiographical account of his ordeal as a Japanese POW.

The 85-year-old has been working on the book for eight years. It contains original sketches from his diary and he also designed the front cover.

He said: "It was burning my brain out for years because I never talked about it. I had the hope that once I'd written it all that I might get rid of all the bad dreams but it was a vain hope. It never goes. It will be with me for the rest of my life."

He added: "In the later part of writing it I was weeping while I was typing it."

The Tattered Remnants tells the tale of Sgt Major Burgoyne's escape from Singapore and his capture by the Japanese.

When Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942, Sgt Major Burgoyne asked permission to attempt an escape. He left on his own, with a .38 revolver and a few hand grenades, but quickly joined up with others.

He led a crew of 13 on a sampan, stopping off at a leper colony where a missionary provided them with supplies and necessary disguises, and hopping from island to island before landing at an island held by the Dutch.

On their arrival, the island fell to the enemy. Sgt Major Burgoyne escaped again with four of the men but he was eventually captured by the Dutch, working for the Japanese.

He was sent to the Burma Railway, working on 114 kilometres of railway.

He was tortured and suffered from amoebic dysentery, 20 bouts of malaria, infective hepatitis, malnutrition, beriberi, pellagra, scabies and tropical ulcers.

June 11, 2002 17:30