A soldier left for dead at the side of an open grave in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp has celebrated his 100th birthday.
Robert William Platts had spent years as a slave labourer in the POW camp and was only rescued when a fellow inmate saw his eyelids moving.
Robert was just 17 when he enlisted in the newly formed 77th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, of the Territorial Amy.
After the Japanese invasion of Malaya in December 1941, his regiment was sent to the Far East, but their ship was captured on the way to Singapore, and he spent the next three-and-a-half years in the camp in Java.
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His daughter, Pauline, said: “It’s only in the last few years that Dad has opened up about what happened to him.
“Each day, the Japanese soldiers came round to check them, and they had to lie straight to attention in their beds.
"Then, if they were able to stand, they’d be made to work for 12 hours, building airport runways.
"They were given only one bowl of rice and a cup of water a day. He became very ill with beriberi and dysentery, and he was taken to hospital.
"The conditions there were appalling. The beds were made of bamboo, which were on the floor, all side by side.
"There were no toilets, only trenches outside that became very slippery in the rain.
“If they slipped, they would have to stand in the rain to wash themselves. When they went to the toilet, their one blanket would be stolen, leaving them cold and wet.
"In one storm, the roof, which was made of raffia, blew off and they had to lie there, in the pouring rain, open to the elements.
“The Japanese soldiers thought that Dad had died, and they threw his body by a graveside.
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"But somebody, walking by, noticed his eyelids blink and took him back to the hospital.
“Somehow, he survived, but at the end of the war, when Dad came home, he was so frail that he could barely walk or carry his bags. It was his mother who nursed him back to full health.”
Mr Platts, who was born in Derby, in August 1921, saw plenty of sadness in his early years.
His father died when he was seven years old, and his only sister died in her teens.
After recovering from his wartime experiences, Mr Platts had several jobs, including working as a hospital pharmacy porter at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.
For many years until his retirement, he was a postman.
He met the love of his life, Barbara, at a local dance, and they married in 1956.
They had two daughters, Stella and Pauline, and he has four grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
Barbara passed away in May 2019. Today, Mr Platts lives with Pauline and her husband, Robert.
Pauline said: “Dad always worked very hard, and he was very conscientious.
"He was an active member of St Andrews’ with St Osmund’s Church, and still has many friends there.
“He’s been a committed fan of Derby County all his life.
“We are so proud of Dad, and how he has coped with everything he has gone through during his long lifetime.
“He is a very quiet, private man, but a real gentleman, with a sense of humour.
"When he received the Maundy Money, at Derby Cathedral in 2010, he was delighted to meet the Queen, and he’s always said that he was going to live to be 100 to get his special message from her.”
