A poignant moment for veterans who attended today's memorial unveiling in Mornington Crescent

Published: 21 September 2012
By ANDREW JOHNSON

THE Last Post sounded over Mornington Crescent today (Friday) as war veterans and three generations of their families remembered their comrades and friends who fell beside them in the Far East during the Second World War.

They were among hundreds of onlookers there to see Viscount Slim unveil a memorial to Far East prisoners of war, erected thanks to the generosity of New Journal readers.

Also helping to unveil the memorial – which features a drawing by the renowned artist Ronald Searle who was himself a prisoner – was Toni Garizio, 93, of Highbury. He is one of the last surviving members of the forced labour camps to which thousands of military personnel and civilians, including women and children, were sent by the Japanese following the fall of Singapore in 1941.

The Duke of Edinburgh sent a message of support.

"I congratulate everyone in Camden for their efforts," said Viscount Slim.

"The prisoners were held under the most appalling conditions. Those that survived are very special, as are those who didn't come back. They never gave up, they didn't just give up the ghost. There was no medicine, they were treated cruelly and subjected to just about every disease you can think of – cholera, dysentery, malaria. They deserve not to be forgotten and always remembered."

• Full coverage – see next Thursday's New Journal