A World War II veteran who was on a warship targeted by Kamikaze suicide bombers has stressed the importance of keeping memories alive.

Roy Miller, 89, was on board one of the warships which took the Japanese surrender in Hong Kong at the end of war.

Mr Miller, who moved from Ewell to Wallington two years ago, is now among the youngest members of the Epsom branch of the Burma Star Association for veterans who served in the Far East.

Mr Miller said: "Unfortunately some members are departing to the other world. It’s important to keep these memories going and remember people who lost their lives out there."

The forces in the Far East were dubbed the ‘forgotten army’ and ‘forgotten fleet’ because their distant suffering remained overlooked back home for many years.

But Mr Miller, who served with the Royal Navy, said he never worried too much about the fact the campaign was not widely publicised at the time.

He said: "Parents and families did not forget us. We were all in this thing together and we had to get it done.

"I think there is recognition for what we did. We have all got medals. It’s a long time ago now."

Mr Miller said he spent nearly three years in the Far East as a gunner on aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable as part of the Pacific Fleet.

He remembers Kamikaze planes attacking his ship several times while near the Sakishima Islands.

He said: "We were able to fight them off but we had some near misses. When under attack we moved the ship so we avoided them."

Later on in the war Mr Miller said the Japanese came to his ship to give up their swords and surrender in a Hong Kong harbour.

He said: "They gave up their swords and we took the surrender.

"We were relived because we were winning. It was another step in the right direction."

Fifteen years ago Mr Miller helped to found the Epsom branch of the Burma Star Association after seeing a notice posted by a veteran in a newspaper, which he believes was the Epsom Guardian.

He has been the branch’s standard bearer ever since and was among eight veterans, in their 80s and 90s, at a service hosted by the Burma Star Association at St Martin's of Tours Church on April 28.

The service marked the 69th anniversary of victory in the battle of Kohima, which turned the tide in the war against the Japanese.

Reverend Simon Talbott, vicar of St Martin’s of Tours, said aspects of the campaign were still unrecorded nearly 70 years on.

Mr Talbott said: "It’s important that we hear these men and women’s stories. They have a very quiet dignity about their war years."