‘Lucky ones’ recall hell camps

They fought in vain to prevent Singapore from falling to the Japanese in 1942 and spent the remainder of World War II as prisoners, enduring unimaginable hardships at the hands of their captors.

Yet Alistair Urquhart and James Scott consider themselves the lucky ones. They walked free when the brutal jungle camps were liberated in 1945 and are still here to tell their stories 70 years on.

The pair are among just five surviving members of the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, whose history is revealed in a new book by Aberdeen man Stewart Mitchell.

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