George Russell was just 18 when he saw a photographic exhibition in Bradford of the atrocities committed by the Japanese on allied prisoners of war.

It was a frightening experience but, despite the images of emaciated young men behind barbed wire and the stories of brutality and horror, he took up the challenge of going to the port town of Kure, Japan.

He worked there for 13 months in 1953 as a member of the Royal Army Pay Corps, dealing with the accounts of the British troops.

They were there as part of a UN peace-keeping mission. Initially struck by the poverty of the people around him, he soon formed friendships with the locals.

"I worked alongside Japanese people in the camp, we were very well accepted and made a lot of lifelong friends.

"We used to leave cigarettes for the people who did the laundry and cleaning and I can honestly say I never experienced any anger or resentment from anyone. Of course there were people who didn't want us there but they never showed anger to us."

Mr Russell enjoyed his time in Kure - a town 15 miles away from Hiroshima - so much that he has just returned from a reunion where he and former British colleagues presented the community with a painting typifying English scenery.

"I have seen many letters from people about the treatment by the Japanese during the war and I just wanted to say that I have had the most wonderful experiences in Japan.

"Of course, you cannot forget the past but you have to move on and I have met extraordinary people in Japan and they bore no grudges, nor retaliated with hate and anger."

Mr Russell, 66, first returned to Japan in 1998.

"Before we went over, I was able to track down people that I had worked with some 40 years previously. It was amazing to see them again and we were made to feel very welcome.

"This year we presented a painting to the people of Kure on behalf of our reunion group in England, in appreciation of the welcome given to us all those years ago."

One of the people Mr Russell and his wife Enid made friends with was a woman whose family had survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima.

"My friend was not born at the time but her family told of how the house just blew away and they stood there naked and burned. They survived something like that and still feel no hatred or anger."

Their visit last month was "a wonderful fortnight. One dear friend, Yasuko Yokoyama, who interviewed us for a local newspaper said nobody could forget what happened but we have to move on."