The widow of a British war hero held captive during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong has finally learned the secrets her husband took to the grave - from a coded diary he kept under the noses of his captors. RAF Squadron Leader Donald Hill MBE, kept a journal written in code, detailing his experiences in the Shamshuipo POW camp. The pages of scrambled numbers were a cover for detailed and graphic accounts of Japanese atrocities and expressions of love for his fiance Pamela. After the war and his marriage to Pamela, Hill was so horrified by his experiences, he never talked about the diary or explained the code needed to unscramble it. The code has baffled military intelligence experts, scientists and staff at the Imperial War Museum in London who have all failed to crack it. But now, 11 years after her husband's death and more than 50 years after he wrote the diary, Pamela Seely-Hill has been able to read about the most painful chapter of her husband's life. The answer came when Mrs Seely-Hill, 80, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, contacted a mathematics lecturer at Surrey University. Professor Phillip Aston has spent the past six months trying to crack Hill's code and this week he succeeded. By using a complex alphabetical letter-to-number translation Professor Aston opened the diary. Pages and pages of figures have been translated into a heart-rending 13-page story of bravery and resilience. Last night Mrs Seely-Hill said: 'Before being sent to Hong Kong Donald was an accountant and very mathematically minded, it was his code. 'After the war he was a changed man, severely affected by the experience. But he never talked about it and there were many things I didn't understand. 'After reading the diary, I do. I made it a goal to do this before I died and the final piece in my life's jigsaw is in place.'
