Mike died on 7 Jan 2016 aged 95: ‘fighting to the end’ said his daughter Judy.

He was one of the two surviving Officers of 4th Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment captured in Singapore in 1942.

The photograph above is of Mike on the cover of ‘Britain-at-War-Magazine Issue 118 Feb 2017’. It is sub-titled ‘Tomforce Evader – Courage of Lieutenant Mike Ashton MC’.

Vice President of the 4 Royal Norfolk Comrades Association, Mike was a regular attender at the 4 Royal Norfolk Offrs’ dinners until he requested removal from the mailing list in 2006 as ‘getting too old’!

Born in Linton, Cambridgeshire, on 1 Feb 1920, he enjoyed the country life with his grandparents, horses and dogs. His mother Pearl pursued a career in journalism in London, his father having departed soon after his birth.

Michael was educated at Haileybury where he joined the OTC. He had hopes of being a farmer but his mother, who was working for Odhams Press, suggested a job on ‘The Sporting Life’. Neither came to pass and on leaving school he started training at the Royal Veterinary College in London and joined the Honourable Artillery Company from where on 7 Jan 1939 he was commissioned into the 4th (Territorial) Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment.

As a Lieutenant he trained in Norfolk and worked on the coastal defences, fondly remembering his cosy billet in Acle. However there was to be no training for jungle warfare in East Anglia!

On 29 Oct 1941 the Battalion put to sea from Liverpool for an unknown posting. They had been destined for India but after the bombing of Pearl Harbour they were sent to Singapore.

On 29 Jan 1942, the ship docked in Keppel Harbour, Singapore, un-noticed by the Japanese due to heavy cloud. The invading enemy aircraft were raiding night and day.

For the first few days Michael and his men helped women and children evacuate the island. On 10 Feb 1942, with a party of men, they became cut-off when B Company was moving forward from positions forward of the Swiss rifle range. Surrounded by the enemy, he hid in undergrowth for a day and a half and at dusk on the second day, collected his men and worked his way back the 3 miles to the lines, meeting several enemy parties which they attacked and inflicted casualties. They had no food and only water from drains and arrived back at the lines, exhausted after over 40 hours. His information about the enemy was invaluable. For this episode Captain Ashton was later awarded the Military Cross.

The Japanese landed on the north West of the Island and on 11 Feb made a strong attack on the ground and in the air. The Allies had no air support and by 15 Feb supplies and water were almost spent and the order to surrender was received. Ashton was first taken to the crowded Changi barracks then housed in the RAF HQ before spending several months at the Golf Club and cricket field, converting the greens into a Japanese shrine.

He was then sent by train to Thailand in the North where the railway was being built at Tarso in the jungle where the conditions were the worst. After that part of the railway was built, in Jun 1944 they were sent to Tamuan, a large camp of 10,000 prisoners.

Here Col Knights gave Ashton the job of overseeing the care of the ducks, goats and some cattle. The meat ration was only 1 oz per man/day. They deceived the guards about the quantities of produce and shared it amongst the men. The goat-keeper often drank some of the milk, replacing it with his own urine for the special consumption of the Japanese officers. For some 40 years Michael kept these memories to himself. Occasionally in convivial company a story might come out. One such tale was the removal of his appendix, using home made instruments and without anaesthetic. That was just one of many close brushes with death.

In Jan 1945 the officers were separated into a small camp at Tamarkan near the Kwai bridges and it was from there that he saw the allies bomb the bridge.

The war in Europe was over by 8 May but Japanese hostilities continued until the atom bombs were dropped in Aug and the peace declaration signed on 2 Sep. It was another month before the news reached the PoW camps, and longer still for the emancipated prisoners to arrive home.

His favourite pastime aside from horses was fly fishing. He was a fine salmon fisherman and every year would escape to Scotland with convivial friends.

At the Service of Thanksgiving for Michael in Arundel the sun shone brightly and the church was packed.

Mike’s one time partner vet gave a long tribute, telling the story of the MC and lots of horse vet tales. The first one concerned Mikes refusal to buy anything from Japan. One day a party came from Japan to view a stallion for sale. One chap peered underneath and said ‘he only got one ball’. Mike defended the animal and convinced them to buy it. After they left he turned to his partner saying: ‘That will serve those little buggers right. That horse only fires blanks!’

You can all imagine how that went down with the vicar and the old ladies in the choir!

Mike is survived by his wife Ann, daughter Judy and son Charles.

Judy Dyer (daughter) & JLR