Marciano Cathrino Maria da Silva, who was a member of the Portuguese Company of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, survived both the fighting and prisoner of war camps in Hong Kong and Japan.

The former corporal spent three years and eight months in prisoner of war camps. An active leader and spokesman for surviving PoWs, Arthur Gomes, recalled knowing da Silva before the war.

Both men were among civilian soldiers who lived through the savage fighting for Hong Kong Island.

'The Japanese put us in Shamshuipo prison camp,' Mr Gomes said yesterday. 'There was a lot of work to do.

'We were marched down to Sung Wong Toi where we levelled the hill on which the old Kowloon Walled City stood. We shovelled the earth onto trucks and dumped the rocks and earth into the harbour to help extend Kai Tak airport. It took months to complete.'

Da Silva was among prisoners shipped to Japan. He landed at Nagoya and later was among the slave labourers forced to work in a coal mine near Sendai. Like other prisoners who had toiled on meagre starvation rations, when liberation came da Silva was a living skeleton. He was put on a ship to Manila, before coming home on a US navy aircraft carrier wearing an American uniform that hung off him.

Before the war, da Silva had worked for Jardine Matheson, a significant employer of many of the Hong Kong Portuguese community in a tradition that can be traced back to the very first day the British flag was raised at Possession Point.

Da Silva first joined the company in 1926 and worked in the insurance arms of the group. He retired in 1965. As with many of the extensive pre-war Portuguese community, much of daily life centred on the family, sport and church.

Da Silva was baptised in Rosary Church, Chatham Road. He was later married there to Kathleen Maxwell, who died 14 years ago. They had three sons and two daughters.