Peter Hunt speaks to PoW survivor Phyllis Jameson about her struggle for compensation

Many more suffered appalling physical and mental scars after being tortured by Japanese soldiers, who considered surrender a despicable act.

Phyllis Jameson was just 13 when she was captured and put in a civilian camp following the fall of Singapore in February, 1942.

By day, she was made to dig graves, build roads and cut down trees. At night she was sexually harassed by the guards.

The fear is still fresh in Mrs Jameson's mind

"After all these years I still can't get away from it," she said.

"I had lice so as not to make myself pretty. I shaved off my hair. That was the worst for me because my hair was my pride and joy. Some of them still pestered me at nights, I couldn't get away from it."

Her five sisters and her mother died when the boat that was evacuating them was sunk by the Japanese.

"We lost everything. Our pride, my family - mother, my sisters, my, brother. People say that's the past and that you should forgive and forget. I say it can be forgiven, but not forgotten. Never forgotten," she said.

Her marriage was the only good thing to come out of the PoW camp

At the end of the war, she received about £45 compensation - prisoners of war got slightly more.

Many other countries negotiated much larger payments from Japan.

On the boat home, she fell in love with and later married Tom Jameson - a Japanese prisoner of war.

Only recently, did she find the courage to speak out and join a dwindling band of ageing campaigners. Many of them have died, including, two months ago, her husband.

Those left campaigning have a tough fight on their hands. The Japanese say they have apologised and the issue of compensation was legally settled 40 years ago.

The British Government does not want to reopen the issue. It believes its relationship with Japan wants to look forward, not back.