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Fred Seiker was born in Rotterdam in 1915, serving in the Dutch Merchant Navy before and during the second World War, on routes between East Asia and the United Kingdom. In 1942, Fred found himself caught up in the Japanese invasion of Java, Indonesia. He was told to surrender, or that he would be shot on the spot if discovered. The contrast of POW camps in Europe and Asia was stark. Far from what might be seen in 'The Great Escape'; conditions were hot, humid and brutal. Japanese officers ran a horrific environment, as Fred remembers on a ship to Singapore, he was stacked with other prisoners on to platforms within the vessel, with hardly ever receiving permission to go to a single ventilation spot. Disease, caused by squalid conditions, would be a regular occurrence. Alistair Binney and Dean Jackson narrate parts of Fred's autobiography, Lest We Forget, including stories of working on the then Thailand-Burma railway, which became immortalised in the film The Bridge Over The River Kwai. He describes being beaten when tiring due to the heat, engaged in the piling operation on the rail embankment. Hear archive audio of Fred, speaking to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Hereford & Worcester in 2005, relieving the moment he knew when he had found freedom after the Japanese surrender, after retiring to Worcester with his wife Liz in 1985. Image credit: Getty/Bettman