ACROSS a crackly long-distance telephone line to southern England, former prisoner of war (PoW) Peter Banks recalled how a middle-aged woman had applied for compensation for her now-dead father who, like him, had been held by the Japanese.
'We sent the details up to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London because they keep all the records, only to find this fellow had never been near the Asian theatre of the Second World War.
'She was so upset; her father had told her about all these terrible atrocities he had witnessed, but it all turned out to be a pack of lies. Why does a man do that? He was not due to gain anything, maybe he wanted the reflected glory . . . I just don't know,' Mr Banks reflected.
These days there is more than bar talk and bravado involved. The issue of compensation for British and Commonwealth PoWs held by the Japanese has suddenly become a highly emotive one again.
When British Prime Minister John Major visited Tokyo last month he raised the matter with his counterpart Morihiro Hosakawa, shortly after the Japanese premier had expressed public regret for the way his country waged an 'aggressive war'.
Mr Major was not alone. In Japan at the same time was a man called Charles Crawford, recently appointed as the treasurer of the 12,000-strong Japanese Labour Camp Survivors Association (JLCSA), an organisation based in Britain. Mr Crawford was anxious to press for ?160 million (HK$1.85 billion) from the Japanese - ?13,000 (HK$150,800) for each member.
Mr Crawford appeared to be well qualified to represent the JLCSA. He said he had spent three years and eight months in Japanese custody as a PoW after Hong Kong fell to the Imperial Army in 1941 following a short, bloody and futile defence.