Don Graham just wanted to volunteer. 

He did not anticipate the drama, the shambles of the defence of Malaya or the horrors of Japanese captivity. He got all of them. 

Through luck, grim determination and strength of character he survived. He fought with the ill-fated Australian 8th Division, firstly in Malaya and then took part in the retreat to Singapore and the street fighting in that city. 

He was horrified to find that he was part of the greatest military disaster in British Empire history. 

Even worse: his captors were brutal. Firstly, sent to the notorious Changi prison he was caught up in the notorious Selarang Barracks incident. 

Over the months, it seemed matters could not become worse. They did become worse. He was marched out of Changi to an uncertain fate. He and hundreds of others were taken on a hell ship to Japan. 

The Japanese had brought him there as a slave labourer in the Kawasaki shipyard in Kobe. The work was heavy. There was little food. Many died. 

It was Don with his irrepressible personality, comical singing voice and card tricks that gave men the courage to carry on. One night, a massive American air raid burned Kobe to the ground. The shipyard was no more. 

Don was one of 300 who were sent towards Nagasaki to work in the coalmine at Yoshikuma. The coal mine was a death trap. Hundreds of men had died there. 

One morning, an Australian prisoner called Don to witness a strange mushroom-shaped cloud, which was ascending the sky in the direction of Nagasaki. No one knew what it was. 

Unaccountably, the Japanese surrendered but the reason was not clear. The men were taken from the mine to dig trenches. They realised they were digging their own graves. 

Would Don be liberated before the order could be carried out?