AN Ilkley woman was appalled to see in last week's Gazette the vandalism

carried out at the Addingham War Memorial.

The mindless defacing of the plaques containing the names of the fallen struck Beryl Falkingham particularly sharply because one of the names was that of her brave father.

Ernest Turnpenny was a soldier in the Royal Corps of Signals serving in Singapore when it was surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, in one of the most infamous episodes of the war.

Mrs Falkingham, of Easby Close, said: "My father is one of the dead soldiers remembered on the memorial. He died as a prisoner of war in the Far East, he was only 28. He was on the Thailand - Burma Railway.

"He was in the Royal Corps of Signals. He was captured at the fall of Singapore. They were all taken prisoner and kept in Changi prison. Then they decided to build this railway. They treated them terribly."

The Burma Railway has passed into legend as the epitome of man's inhumanity to man. Changi jail in Singapore was an overcrowded, brutal hell-hole, but the prisoners' transfer to the railway made their lives even worse.

Once the Japanese forces had taken control of most of South Asia, they decided to build the permanent rail link between Thailand and Burma as a strategic military supply line, ultimately to provide the military hardwear they needed to invade British-controlled India.

It was christened the 'Railroad of Death' by the Prisoners of War (POWs) sent to aid the Asian forced labourers who were detailed to build it.

Construction began in late 1942 and by the time the 415kilometre line had been completed in 1943, starvation, overwork, torture, illness and brutality had accounted for 90,000, lives - mostly Asian workers but 6,540 British POWs died alongside them.

It was said that there was a life lost for every sleeper laid between the railway lines - Signaller Turnpenny, in November 1942, became one of those statistics.

Mrs Falkingham said: "The worst part was that he died in November 1942. But we didn't know. All through the war he was just reported missing. The Japanese did not let any information come through. The Red Cross just had him down as a prisoner of war.

"Ethel, my mother, used to take the post round in Addingham and was always very cheerful when everybody got letters but she never got any letters herself.

"She did not get to know until the end of the war. She never got over it and she died when she was 42."

Mrs Falkingham said she could not understand why people had sunk so low as to wilfully deface the War Memorial.

She said: "I don't think they realise what these young men went through. They were difficult times. I just feel aggrieved that anybody could do that. They either don't realise what these men have gone through - or if they do, they don't care.

"I am going to go up there and look at it. It does look a mess. I think they don't realise - it should be brought to their attention. They were all young men who gave their lives."

Although Mr Falkingham now lives in Ilkley, she is still involved in the life of the village of Addingham, attending Saint Peter's Church and the annual Remembrance Day Parade.

But it is unlikely she will soon forget the shock of discovering what happened to the respectful memorial to the brave men of two world wars.

She said: "When my husband Roy opened the paper he said I had better tell you before you look at it."

Mrs Falkingham is now hoping that a public subscription could be collected to restore the War Memorial to its former state and that the people who damaged it will learn to show respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Edwin Jordon, a member of the Ilkley Royal British Legion branch said he was dismayed to see the desecration of the War Memorial.

"This sort of thing is inexcusable," he said.