War time recollections came flooding back for old soldiers who were guests of honour at an exhibition in Keighley, being held to commemorate the role of Asian and black men and women in the British armed forces.

Pride was visibly stamped on the faces of men like 81-year-old Noor Dad and Fazal Elihi, 72, who both served in the British army in the Second World War.

Mr Dad, of Devonshire Street, Keighley, was a Japanese prisoner of war and Mr Elihi, of Clarendon Street, Keighley, served in Burma, where he was wounded in the leg.

Their friend Sahib Dad, aged 75, of Cark Road, Keighley, who also served in Burma, joined them to meet guests at the opening of the exhibition entitled We Were There.

Relishing the event at the Sangat Centre was old soldier Zamir Qureshi, 74, of Aireworth Road, Keighley, whose army career spanned 24 years, earning him ten medals.

They mingled with other guests including Bradford's Lord Mayor Councillor Stanley King, who opened the show, which is on a national tour.

Coun King said: "It's a very impressive exhibition containing many stories of individual bravery and charts a history which goes back much further than I expected. I think it will be an eye-opener for many people - it certainly is an eye-opener for me. It is a fascinating story and a tale worth telling.

"I think the story of the contribution they made is long overdue."

Like the story of Noor Dad who joined the British army in 1939 as a signaller.

He was stationed in Penang in Singapore and was taken prisoner in 1942 by the Japanese.

He spent three years as a POW. He recalled: "Life was very hard. We were given no food and had to survive on grass and roots.

"I'm glad at last we are getting recognition because we were forgotten people. It shows what we gave for Britain."

And Mr Qureshi, pictured, who witnessed some of the heaviest fighting in Italian Somaliland, recalls the horror of seeing a hospital ship attacked.

"A bomb fell on the ship and it took 28 minutes to go down. All staff and patients went down and only one major was alive."

While posted on a hospital ship he tended the wounded of the battle of Monte Casino in Italy, where thousands of allied troops were killed.

He said he was particularly proud of his medal from the Queen on her Coronation and of his medal from Pakistan recognising his service in that army.

The story of ethnic minority involvement in British military history is told in a series of panels and through two videos.

It traces their involvement back to the Battle of Trafalgar and through both world wars.

In the First World War alone, more than a million men from all parts of the empire volunteered to serve and India alone sent more to the front than Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Among them was Lieutenant Indra Lal - or Laddie Roy to his mates in the Royal Flying Corps. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross and was India's first flying ace who died in combat in July 1918.

Then there was Noor Inayal Khan, who was a radio operator in France. She was betrayed to the Gestapo but refused to divulge information.

She was eventually sent to Dachau prison where she was executed in September 1944 and posthumously awarded the George Cross in 1949.

Rubbing shoulders with the veterans was black sailor, Chief Petty Officer Gillian Orchard, who has served in the Royal Navy for 18 years, including two years in Bosnia.

"I'm very impressed. I've learned a lot myself. I knew very little about the history of ethnic minorities in the forces when I joined."

Ghulam Rabani, Sangat Centre co-ordinator, said he was proud that the centre had been chosen to host the exhibition.

"It's a great opportunity to educate all young people of all communities about the role their forefathers played in fighting together for freedom."