'Ican forgive, but I won't forget," says Jack Simmonds, an 82-year-old Australian, who was detained as a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II.

Along with fellow Australian ex-POWs Neil MacPherson, 82, and Jack Boon, 87, Simmonds was visiting Japan for the first time since the end of the war. "I wanted to see Japan, where I spent my war-time, with my eyes again," he said.

His thoughts are echoed by his fellow travelers.