Richie's mate Keith

And here he is: a tribute today for this special gentleman, Keith Botterill, Richie Murray's best mate.

As NX42191 Pte Botterill of the 2/19th Australian Infantry Battalion, he was taken POW by the Japanese when Singapore fell in February 1942 and eventually held at Sandakan on Borneo, along with around 2000 other Anzacs and 641 British POWs (two of whom were my own cousins Alec & Bert).

At Sandakan and on the marches of extermination to Ranau in early 1945, everyone was killed, everyone except six men, all Aussies, and Keith was one of them.

He had escaped into the jungle and was more of a ghost than a man by the time he was rescued, after the Japanese capitulation in August 1945.

But he survived and was one of the very few who lived to bear witness to what happened on Borneo.

As a relative of British prisoners at Sandakan, I would never know what had happened if Keith had not survived and spoken up.

I personally feel I owe him a very great deal, on top of everything I already owe him for fighting such a terrible War for all our sakes.

I don't think any of us can know the hideous weight it must have been for him his whole life through, to become a living memorial to 2000 of your mates, to still be here when they are not.

An extraordinary man, not forgotten on Anzac Day, or ever.