A former Japanese prisoner-of-war is to unveil a memorial to the thousands of men, women and children from Britain who survived the Far East camps.

Maurice Naylor CBE has been chosen to unveil a granite plaque to the 37,500 British Forces and more than 2,000 civilians who returned to Britain from captivity in 1945.

Maurice, 91, of Kirby Muxloe, was a member of the 135th Field Regiment and served under Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey when they were captured by the Japanese.

Maurice said: "Even to this day I have flashbacks, I see myself in captivity not knowing if I was going to live or die or ever get out of that place.

"In the end I was a lucky one and got out. I saw men just give up through hunger and disease and with the uncertainty of not knowing what the future held. It was awful."

Maurice was held in the camp at Tamarkan and worked on the Burma railway and on the bridge over the River Kwai – immortalised in the film of the same name.

The regime in the camps was brutal.

"One day I wandered into the wrong part of the camp and a guard spotted me," said Maurice.

"He came over to me and told me to take off my glasses. I did, and then he beat me and broke my nose.

"I got away quite lightly. I never saw anyone beaten to death or executed, but we knew it happened."

Maurice, a former chief administrator of the NHS Trent Regional Authority who helped with the design and development of Glenfield Hospital, will unveil the plaque at Liverpool's Pier Head on Saturday.

Two of Lt Col Toosey's great-grandchildren, Zach and Eliza Parsons, from Kibworth Beauchamp, will lay a wreath.

Maurice said: "It is an honour and a privilege to have been invited to unveil this memorial.

"It is 66 years since we arrived back in Liverpool to the sound of ships' sirens and the cheers of the crowds.

"There are not many of us left now, and soon there will be none. Lt Col Toosey was an inspirational leader and it will be a pleasure to meet his family."

Zach, aged nine, said: "I have heard a lot about my great-granddad and feel proud to do this for him."

Eliza, seven, said: "I am nervous about it, but very excited too."

Their mother, Erica Parsons, said: "Lt Col Toosey was my grandfather and a hugely modest man, like many of that generation.

"He did not talk about what happened really, but I think he did confide in my father on occasions. We, as a family, feel hugely proud to do this."

More than 50,000 British forces were captured between the fall of Hong Kong in December 1941, the fall of Singapore in February and the Netherlands East Indies in March 1942.

Many were used as slave labour and one in four died due to untreated disease, neglect and brutality at the hands of the Japanese.