Thomas William George Banham was born in the parish of Edmonton, Hornsey, Middlesex. He went to Grange Street School in Burton and worked for H.I.Evans (Builders) Ltd before joining the army in 1929.

When war broke out, Thomas was stationed in Hong Kong. His wife and 2 children, a boy (my husband Reg) then aged 13 and a girl then aged 9, escaped first to the Philippines only to be pursued by the Japanese Army and from there with the help of the Red Cross, to Australia.

Thomas survived the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and was taken via Shanghai to Kobe in Japan, where he was held as a POW.

Sadly, Thomas died in Osaka 1b on 11th August 1945, just days before the Japanese surrendered.

After the war, Thomas' wife and children returned home to Ireland. My husband Reg, Thomas' son, spent a great deal of time researching his family history. I promised my husband before he died that I would write a book about his mother's escape from Hong Kong and his father's death.

It took me more than 10 years to write my book, a novel, which incorporates much of Reg's factual research, turning it into a unusual love story. The book is called The Story of Our Lives. Do Dragons Really Fly. What made writing the book so interesting for me was the fact that I inherited many original artefacts from my husband's research, including a signed letter from King George VI and an original letter written by a Buddhist priest, who looked after the ashes of the POWs, who had died in Osaka.