A BOLTON war hero who witnessed a terrible massacre is set to be honoured from the grave.

Edward Lunt, who lived in Moorfield Grove, Tonge Moor, is to have his life story told in an article by World War II expert John Munday.

Warrant Officer Lunt was one of the few survivors of the notorious slaughter of patients and unarmed medical staff by Japanese soldiers at the Alexandra Hospital in Singapore in February 1942.

He was awarded the prestigious Military Medal for bravery after saving several people in the slaughter, in which around 220 people were killed.

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Mr Munday, chairman of the Orders and Medals Research Society, said Mr Lunt had acted with incredible bravery.

"He was not only incredibly brave in his actions but it must have been an horrendous thing to see. He would have kept the emotional scars for the rest of his life," said Mr Munday.

"It's hard for us to image how terrible it must have been to witness what was the worst massacre of the war in terms of British and Empire troops."

On Valentine's Day, 1942, WOII Edward Lunt of the Royal Army Medical Corps was on the ground floor of the Alexandra Hospital - crammed with wounded patients - as a Japanese army guerilla unit burst in.

Mr Lunt, who died around 15 years ago aged about 85, was attending to a patient when he had his steel helmet knocked off as he was fired on by soldiers. The hospital was sprayed with automatic fire but Warrant Officer Lunt managed to drag his patient to safety.

One soldier caught him and bayoneted him in the chest but he survived because it penetrated his medical kit.

The massacre shocked wartime Britain as the hospital had no fighting soldiers. Warrant Officer Lunt took charge after the massacre and had to hide medical supplies, food and water so patients would not starve to death.

He was later made a prisoner at the notorious Changi jail, where he helped to run the camp hospital.

After the war, Warrant Officer Lunt gave a statement to the UN War Crimes Commission about the massacre in which he described the gruesome events. He said: "I saw about 18 Japanese enter the corridor. They were armed with machine guns and rifles. They first fired into the duty room of wards 16 and 17 and then sprayed the corridor in my direction.

"Next day I heard that a further contingent of Japanese apparently gathered together all who could walk and marched them off. We never heard any more. I held a roll call and estimated about 80 staff and 80 patients had been marched off. We found about 38 patients and staff shot or bayoneted in the hospital."

Mr Munday, who will write for the Orders and Medals Res-

earch Society journal, wants to contact relatives or anyone who knew Mr Lunt. He lives at 6 Upper Winfield Avenue, Patcham, Brighton, Sussex. Mr Lunt was also awarded the 1939/45 Star, Pacific Star, Defence Medal, War Medal, Long Service and Good Conduct Medals.

He was secretary of the Bolton and District Far Eastern Prisoners of War Association after the war.

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