The territorial battalions of the Royal Norfolk Regiment; the 4th 5th and 6th Battalions were part of the East Anglian Division and were sent to Singapore. With no naval or air support, the Allied army had to surrender to the Japanese and the men spent the next three and a half years as POWs.

For many of the POWs, the time was spent in Thailand constructing a railway, which the Japanese hoped to use for their conquest of India. Punishments were brutal. Conditions were extremely harsh, food scarce, malnutrition was widespread and many died of disease.    About 2,000 men comprised the three battalions, around 600 died whilst in captivity.