FELLOW ex-Prisoners of War and friends of the late Arthur Titherington say that their fight for a specific form of apology from the Japanese will go one.

Mr Titherington, who died last month, was imprisoned by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore during the Second World War, and after release campaigned tirelessly for the Japanese government to say Shazai – an apology with an admission of sin.

A former mayor of Witney, he was also chairman of the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors’ Association.

His deputy and close friend, Sydney Tavender, 93, has promised that their 60-year fight will continue.

He said: “We both said we would never give in, and I shall fight on until I can’t do it any more.

“Arthur’s one of the dearest friends I’ve ever had, without a shadow of a doubt. I would have done anything for him. I shall miss him terribly, but I shall honour his name by continuing the fight.”

Mr Tavender first met Mr Titherington a month before the end of the Second World War, but several years beforehand they had both been stationed together in Singapore.

Mr Titherington was in the Royal Signals, while Mr Tavender was an officer in the Gurkhas.

It was during the fighting in Singapore and Malaysia that they were captured by the Japanese.

Mr Titherington was sent to the copper mines in Formosa, now Taiwan, while Mr Tavender, who was 21 at the time, was sent to work on the infamous ‘death railway’.

He spent more than three years working on the railway, including being forced to build the bridge over the River Kwai.

As well as work on the railway, the Japanese also forced the men to burn the body’s of those who had died of over-work or cholera.

Mr Tavender said they would have to pick the corpses up and throw them on to a huge bonfire.

He said that as the bodies warmed up they would appear to sit up.

Mr Tavender said: “You swear that they’re looking at you.

“It’s the most ghastliest thing you’ve ever seen in your life. I never forget it.”

This treatment led to the long campaign that saw them travel the world to fight for the apology.

Their campaign did lead to the British Government paying £10,000 to the camp survivors, but Mr Tavender insisted that they would continue to fight until they got their apology.