Video: World War II veteran, Jack's journey

My name is Jack Jennings and I served in the First Cambridgeshire Regiment.

I set sail from Liverpool in October 1941 and landed in Singapore on January 29th 1942. The Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbour and were in Malaya. Thankfully we had been given tropical kit, shorts and that – to change into from our ordinary uniform, it was so hot, I'd never known anything like it.

When the Japanese got to Singapore we met them on the corner of Adam Road, in Central Singapore. We put up a good fight and stemmed their advance for a while before eventually surrendering on February 15th. They herded us all into tennis courts, 500 of us – and held us there for five days and five nights with just a few biscuits and a bit of chocolate to keep us going.

Then I was transported to Thailand and was a prisoner of war for three–and–a–half years until the surrender in September 1945. They moved us around a lot. I worked on the railways mainly. The camps were very poor. We just hoped and prayed we would survive; we didn't know what was going to happen next. There was intense heat and there were no medicines because all the Red Cross parcels went to the Japanese soldiers. It was hard, 747 lads from our regiment didn't make it.

I went back to Thailand years later. Before I left, the trip was really playing on my mind, you know? But when I got there it was completely different. The old dreams I used to have just faded away. I was quite surprised and very relieved. The place is a really nice tourist area now.

Thanks to lottery players, I've just got back from a trip to the Far East. They've created a heritage site in honour of the regiment and have dug up loads of stuff, like bullets and hand grenades left behind.

I want to say a big thank you to lottery players. By playing, you help support people like me who have served their country.

More than 58,500 veterans and their families have returned to the battlefields where they saw action, and like Jack, were able to honour the memory of the fallen.

To date you've helped raise over £88 million to support our veterans – remembering the fallen and supporting the future of the living.