Final surviving veteran of Burma Railway dies aged 104

THE funeral of the man believed to be the last surviving veteran of the infamous Burma Railway, has taken place.

Jack Jennings, 104, died at his care home in Torquay, Devon, in January.

Following his capture on Feb 15 1942, he was one of thousands of prisoners tasked by the Japanese to build the railway between Thailand and Myanmar.

His granddaughter Carolyn Heath described him as her “hero” and said: “He did just amazing things in a very simple way.

“He was a carpenter and of course, that helped him out in the war when he was building the railway, but he was also really helpful to us at home and just was a jack of all trades, really.”

The deaths of thousands during the forced construction of the development led the project to be named the “death railway” but he was one of those who survived.

He was one of the survivors and his passing was marked with a guard of honour by the Royal British Legion at the service at The Little Theatre in Torquay.

Mr Jennings was captured on February 15, 1942, in Singapore when he was serving with the

Cambridgeshire Regiment and was held as a prisoner of the Japanese until the end of August 1945.

He battled through ill health and went on to marry his childhood sweetheart Lilian Mary in December 1945.

His daughter Hazel Heath said although he did not talk about his experiences for many years, he was “proud in the end”. He later took the decision to write a memoir about being a prisoner of war. Mr Jennings moved to Torquay and had a passion for playing the harmonica, according to his daughters.