Standard bearer Alec Penstone at the National Federation of Far Eastern Prisoners of War service, Ventnor Botanic Garden, Isle of Wight. Picture courtesy of John Holdoway.
PRISONERS of war stood together with widows, family and friends of those held captive in the Far East during the Second World War at a poignant service held on the Isle of Wight on Sunday.
More than 70 people from the south attended the remembrance service, organised by the National Federation of Far Eastern Prisoners of War (NFFEPOW) and held in the grounds of Ventnor Botanic Gardens.
The service was conducted by NFFEPOW chaplain Pauline Simpson at a plaque laid by the now disbanded Isle of Wight branch of the Far Eastern Prisoners of War Association.
Wreaths from other association branches were laid at the plaque and a memorial oak tree, planted in October 1989 in memory of those who died in POW camps in the Far East between 1941-45.
Twenty POWS attended the service, which included an Act of Remembrance. It is believed the last Far East POW living on the Island died last year.
The only Islander believed to have attended the service was Alec Penstone, who carried the standard of the IW branch of the Royal Naval Association.
Mr Penstone, 87, of Eastmount Road, Shanklin, who was not a POW, served in Hong Kong on HMS Amethyst at the end of the war.
He said: "It was a short service, but a very moving one."
Reporter: jonm@iwcpmail.co.uk