John was born in 1916 to Charles and Mary Carter at West Herrington in County Durham. He joined the Royal Navy in 1935 at the age of 19 and served on a number of ships including HMS Nelson.

John is understood to have spent time in Gibraltar, Malta and Shanghai in the early part of the war but prior to the Japanese invasion he was serving on board HMS Tern which was a small gunboat which used to sail up the Pearl River as far as Canton in China. As war became more imminent this changed to sailing out to the minefields with occasional duties on board a Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) observing the movement of Japanese ships through the Pearl River Delta.

On the day of the war declaration, HMS Tern steamed towards Hong Kong to find that the airport and the island had already been bombed and they were also attacked by a Japanese airplane on the way. They were tasked to bombard a road in the New Territories which they successfully completed however were spotted by an enemy plane which proceeded to bomb the gunboat whilst trying to get away. Sadly the gunboat was damaged but managed to make it to a little cove called Aberdeen Bay before succumbing to her damage and sinking.

The crew managed to rescue a number of weapons and ammunition before being becoming 'soldiers' for their remaining time as free men. The crew were attached to the Middlesex Regiment and with a small number of soldiers, some of which were Canadian, tasked to take up positions at a house which soon came under attack by the Japanese. Eventually they were driven out of the house by mortar fire and then took cover in an underground magazine before being taken prisoner. John stated he was captured on 1st January 1942 in a diary he wrote post-war although John's Japanese POW record card shows he was captured on the 31st December 1942 (16 12 31 in the Showa Calendar). He says "how amazed we were when we were told that the island had surrendered to the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941".

John was then imprisoned at North Point POW camp before moving to Shamshuipo POW camp on the mainland in September 1942 prior to being boarded on to the Lisbon Maru. Conditions were very hard on board with them being battened down in the holds for some time with very little to eat and drink. Following the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, John being a good swimmer managed to survive in the water by frequently ducking under the water until he was able to hang onto a float loaded with survivors. They were later picked up by Chinese fishermen who took him back to an island however his freedom was short lived as the POWs were recaptured the following day and taken to Shanghai before sailing to the Japanese Mainland.

John was liberated from Osaka 1b POW camp and travelled back to UK via San Francisco and crossing Canada to join another ship from the east coast to UK eventually returning home in June 1946.

John also wrote a short story of his time in the war for the Sunday Pictorial (see additional images below). Family recollections include that the returning POWs were first offered rice as a meal on the ship which was promptly refused and that he would never eat rice again for the rest of his life. In addition on returning to the UK he was refused a bus ride from Durham train station to home (the last 8 miles of his long journey) as he was brandishing a captured Japanese sword within his kit bag. After a quick bit of explanation he was allowed onto the bus by the conductor.

His son mentions how very proud he is of his Dad.

"He was an immense man in every respect, his build, his joy for life and helping others. He never spoke about these times, he just wanted to forget although he still had the nightmares, bouts of Malaria etc. I felt I had to respect his wishes and never asked about this period of his life".