Shropshire Star

Incredible story of Black Country WW2 veteran and last known survivor of 'death railway' who has died aged 104

A man from the Black Country who was the last known survivor of the death railway has passed away.

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A pre-war photo of Jack taken in 1939 and a photo taken at aged 104 (Jack Jennings has died at the age of 104 by Kevin Clifford.

Jack Jennings, who was originally from Cradley Heath and had lived in Stourbridge, died on January 19 at the age of 104, in Torquay where he was residing.

Jack Jennings in his service days

Mr Jennings had fought in the jungle in Asia during the Second World War and worked on the Burma Railway as a prisoner of war, returning to the battlefields in Singapore and Thailand years later as part of a National Lottery scheme.

He appeared in a National Lottery advert where he relived his experiences from the war as he returned to where he had been a prisoner of war.

The story of Jack Jennings inspired a National Lottery good cause TV advert campaign. In the video, he spoke of his return to the Far East with funding from the Big Lottery Fund's Heroes Return programme.

He said at the time that he had been able to pay his respects to those lost and also come away with a better feeling about the area after having lived through atrocious conditions and unimaginable sights.

Mr Jennings took part in the epic Battle of Singapore and suffered near-starvation on a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp before being sent to work on the railway line.

At 95, the retired joiner from Cradley Heath committed his memoirs to print in an online memoir.

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