MEN who endured some of the harshest conditions British soldiers have ever faced were remembered in Liverpool.

To coincide with the 65th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day, a memorial service for Far East Prisoners of War was held at the Christ the King Church, in Childwall, on Sunday.

Among the guests was the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Cllr Hazel Williams, Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside Dame Lorna Muirhead and controversial BNP chairman and North West MEP Nick Griffin.

The Far Eastern prison camps were notorious for brutal conditions and sadistic guards.

Arthur Lane, 89, of Stockport, one of the survivors who attended the service, was one of the 400 men of the 875-strong Manchester regiment unit who came back alive.

Drummer Lane, as he was known as a teenage soldier, told the Daily Post that when he and his fellow captives laid their comrades to rest in the prison camps, he would play the poignant Last Post on his bugle.

He said: “I must have played the Last Post about 3,000 times in the 3½ years I was in the camp in Singapore.

“And it wasn’t just because we were burying one man – sometimes we buried 20 at a time – the conditions there were awful.

“I’ve not forgotten and never will.”

Mr Lane was just 18 when he arrived in Singapore, having previously seen action in Egypt and the Middle East.

He said: “We were in Singapore from 1938 to 1941 when the Japanese attacked.

“We fought for 70 days and then were taken prisoners of war. People don't realise that before the prison camps we had 70 days of hell.”

Mr Lane said Liverpool held a special significance for the troops.

“They sailed out of Liverpool and those that came back returned there.

“So it is poignant in that respect,” he said.

The surrender of Japan came three months after the surrender of the Nazis in Europe and officially ended World War II.

Robert Eyre, who organised the memorial service, said Mr Griffin was invited along with other MEPs.

He said: “We sent out invitations to all the MEPs in the North and all the Merseyside MPs.

“We also sent information packs out with information and invitations to all the major political parties.

“Many of these couldn’t come or were forced to cancel.”

After the service, the Lord Mayor led a procession from the church to the nearby Christ the King club, where refreshments were served.