IT is a poignant reminder of the horrors of World War Two.

The 'Death Railway’ linking Thailand and Burma was built in 1942 by starved prisoners of war - including former Peebles man Jack Ransom.

Now, at the age of 93, Jack has spoken out about his experiences in captivity under the Japanese. In his new book, The Scottish Cockney, he details his life including his childhood in London, wartime romance and the 30 years he spent in Peebles, where he was secretary of the football club.

Twice widowed, Jack now lives in Ayrshire with 82-year-old Maddie, whom he married in 2009.

He told the Peeblesshire News: “I arrived in Peebles just before Christmas of 1940 with my unit and I was billeted in the Old Priory, which is now the Post Office.

“The first thing I did when I arrived was to get the morning newspaper, and the girl behind the counter, Helen Crawford, was my first wife.

“I spoke to her and it was a click at first sight. I got my newspaper from her for a week and suggested that we might meet, which we did, in the local drill hall, because she was doing voluntary work supplying tea and cakes for the troops.

“Therefore we started courting. We left Peebles in the spring of next year - we were only about four months in Peebles. I said I would write. I don’t think she believed that but I did.” Helen later joined the Women’s Royal Airforce and the couple got engaged, clubbing together to buy a £9 ring from a jeweller’s shop at the top of Leith Walk.

But they were separated when Jack was posted to the Allied stronghold of Singapore, as part of the Pacific campaigns.

He said: “Looking back, we should never have been sent there. All of our vehicles were camouflaged for a desert in the Middle East, where we were supposed to go, but we were redirected as more help was needed in Singapore.

“However the writing was on the wall, the campaign was already lost and the loss of lives was such a waste.” The Battle of Singapore, fought between 8-15 February, 1942, saw the island captured by the Japanese.

Along with the defeat came the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history - 80,000 were imprisoned, including Jack.

He added: “We were taken to the Burma-Thailand Border, where our camp was.

“They transported us in cattle trucks, with about 35 to a truck. The sanitary conditions were horrible. We were in these compartments for five days, living on a handful of rice.” Conditions in the camp were similarly appalling, with pitiful rations and diseases weakening the prisoners.

They were put to work building the Burma Railway - also known as the Death Railway, which took the lives of 12,399 prisoners of war.

Jack said: “Our job included building the embankments for the train, and breaking up stones. We worked from dawn til dusk. The hot sun and the diseases were relentless - cholera, dysentery, malaria, they were all there.

“Malaria was the most potent, people caught it because there were so many mosquitoes.

“They didn’t like my blood so I never got it, but I did have a bout of dysentery, which could be treated by eating charcoal. After the railway was built we were taken to a prison in Signapore. When I was released in August 1945, I weighed six stone.” On his arrival in England Jack was reunited with Helen, who had waited patiently for four years.

The couple got married at the Waverley Hotel in Peebles and after spending a year in London, they came back to live on Rosetta Road.

Although initially struggling to adjust to normal life, Jack eventually found a job at Standard Life in Edinburgh.

He then bought a house in St Andrew’s Road in Peebles, where he lived with Helen until her death in 1974. He said: “The highlights of my life in Peebles was being secretary of the football club, and watching its success in the 1950s.

“I also remember when the Liberal Democrat David Steel gave a speech on the steps of the Tontine Hotel.

“Then I moved away to the Midlands when Helen died and met my second wife, whom I lived with until 2009.” It was in that year that Jack decided to re-visit the places where he laboured as a prisoner of war.

But instead of a cramped cattle truck, this time around he travelled in five star luxury. And when he returned to Scotland, he was inspired to tell his story by writing a book.

It was also in 2009 that Jack married his third and current wife, moving to the West Coast town of Largs.

He said: “I’ve always loved Scotland and whatever happens in the referendum I’ll be staying here!” Jack Ransom’s autobiogrpahy, The Scottish Cockney, is available from http://olympiapublishers.com/the-scottish-cockney.html and on Amazon.