CASE STUDY 1

FORMER prisoner-of-war Jack King survived the Japanese “Death Railway”, depicted in The Bridge On The River Kwai movie, but has found it difficult to overcome the loss of his beloved wife. Artist Jack, 96, (left, and bottom left in the inset picture) was 19 and a junior NCO in the Royal Artillery when he was captured in Singapore in 1942.

Forced to slave day and night on the Burma railway he was lucky. Despite fracturing his skull and suffering horrific shrapnel wounds he escaped alive, unlike a third of the fellow soldiers he worked with. Jack met Audrey on leave in May 1946 and they married in September after she said “you can take me to the pictures” as he boarded a train at Eastbourne, East Sussex. He now has those words on a bench in his garden.

He cannot recall the film but can recount almost every other detail of their 65-year marriage. Audrey died in 2012, aged 85. Consumed by loneliness and unable to move about easily because of his war wounds Jack called The Silver Line. He credits the love and support they have shown him for “opening his eyes to the world” and he receives a call from the charity every Sunday. He said: “Audrey meant everything to me. I have three sons and I’m very proud of them all but they have their own lives now. “When I rang The Silver Line I felt very cut off, the war has left its mark on me. The memories of the starvation and illtreatment never leave. “I don’t think a civilised person could visualise or understand what it was like. “It was horrific, degrading. There was no proper food, no medication and we were struck down with malaria many times.” Jack, who fills his time writing poetry, books and painting, said: “Loneliness comes out of the blue sometimes. “There are plenty worse off than me but I don’t think pensioners are treated very well in this country.”