The funeral of a north-east veteran who survived an atomic bomb blast will take place later today.
Newtonhill-born Alistair Urquhart, who was also forced to work on the Death Railway by the Japanese army during WWII, died last week aged 97.
At 19, he was conscripted into the Gordon Highlanders and stationed at Fort Canning in Singapore.
In 1942, he was captured by the Imperial Japanese Army, and forced to march more than 100 miles through the sweltering jungle to work on the infamous Burma Railway.
Two years later, the north-east soldier was being transported on a Japanese ship with 900 other men when it was torpedoed by an American submarine.
He spent five days floating on a raft before he was picked up by a Japanese whaling vessel and back into the hands of the enemy.
After he was re-captured he was sent to work in Nagasaki at an open cast coal mine where America’s second atom bomb strike took place in 1945.
When he finally returned home, he lived happily in Broughty Ferry for many years, and, in 2010, shared his remarkable life story in his book The Forgotten Highlander.
He died in Dundee on Friday, surrounded by his family.
Mr Urquhart’s funeral service takes place at Dundee Crematorium, McAlpine Road, at 1.15pm.
