About this project

'We may allow ourselves a brief moment of rejoicing; but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead. Japan, with all her treachery and greed, remains unsubdued. The injury she has inflicted on Great Britain, the United States, and other countries, and her detestable cruelties, call for justice and retribution. We must now devote all our strength and resources to the completion of our task, both at home and abroad. Advance Britannia! Long live the cause of freedom! God save the King!'

— Winston Churchill on VE Day, 8 May 1945

Just before the anniversary of VE Day 70, I asked my Mum how she celebrated the event in Liverpool. She didn’t, was her reply, because her father Harry was still fighting 'his' war, as a FEPOW in Japan.

At that moment, I realised how vital it was (and still is) that he and all FEPOWs be remembered and honoured. As 'The Greatest Generation' fades into history, their stories now need to be told—perhaps more than ever before.

Understandably, VE Day is important. It represents the end of Britain's six-year existential struggle on the Home Front. However, those involved in the equally vital Far East Campaign are too often forgotten, which is why VJ Day really is important to those of us who are now the sole remaining voice of our FEPOW loved ones.

A truck of revellers passes through the Strand, London on VE Day 1945 — VE Day Celebrations in London, 8 May 1945

Harry, along with tens of thousands of FEPOWs, was very much still at war—and for those who did manage to survive, the experience would never leave them. Moreover, many of those who came home went on to die long before their time.

‘Still at War’ is a unique and special project which aims to shine a spotlight on this story.

— Anne Powley

Experience Harry's Story in Real Time

A collection of paper diary entries from Harry carefully laid out across a table together with a picture of him.

Harry’s diaries highlight a personal account of endurance and survival at the mercy of the Imperial Japanese Army, told through over 600 days of handwritten entries—many of which were written between VE Day and VJ Day. As Europe celebrated, the war in the Far East continued.

Here, we will tell the story of one prisoner’s journey; the struggles and horrific experiences of life as a POW, as word spreads that the war in Europe has concluded—and the days leading up to the end of the Second World War.

Every day between VE Day and VJ Day, Harry’s story will be told as it was written eighty years prior—in real time.