THIS past weekend Kenneth Hodder of Stavordale Road, Weymouth, was honoured at a ceremony at Exeter Cathedral to remember those who were involved in the sinking of HMS Exeter on March 1 1942 - 75 years ago.

Mr Hodder, who is now 97 and was not fit enough to attend the ceremony in Exeter, survived the sinking and then survived three and a half years in a Japanese POW camp at Macassar, previously part of the Dutch East Indies.

HMS Exeter was sunk by Japanese forces. Some 54 sailors died when the Exeter was shelled and torpedoed in the Java Sea.

She went down at 11am and the survivors - including Mr Hodder - faced another ordeal. After being in the water for hours they were picked up by a Japanese destroyer, and then spent three years in the POW camp.

Rations were meagre - prisoners had to exist on a sardine-tin portion of rice a day and the occasional fresh vegetable and dried fish.

Members of his family attended the memorial service to represent Mr Hodder.

The service at Exeter Cathedral on Saturday was conducted by Canon Precentor Victoria Thurtell, who was previously at a Dorchester parish and who grew up in Weymouth.