"None of us would be alive without the selfless courage and compassion of the fishermen and villagers who saved so many people," he says.

He traveled all the way from Plymouth to Zhoushan with his wife, Susan Murphy, to attend a series of commemorative events, including laying flowers at the memorial, planting trees, visiting the Lisbon Maru Rescue Memorial Hall on Dongji Island, and meeting with the descendants of those fishermen who took part in the rescue.

"It's been a real highlight of my life to come here, to meet all these wonderful people," he says.

"It's important that we hand that story and memory down, and it's pleasing to me, very touching, to hear that the Chinese generations, generation after generation, are similarly carrying the story on."

Christopher Borge, who made the trip with his sister Kirsteen Dugan, is the grandson of Lisbon Maru survivor John Borg.

He believes it is vital to share this story with a wider population.

"At school, they teach about the war in Europe and the UK, but not much about what happened in China and Japan," he says.

"We also need to focus on the details that reveal humanity, kindness, and cross-border friendship."

He is also the great-nephew of Duncan Edward Cameron, another Lisbon Maru survivor who was a friend of Borg.

After the rescue, the two were later taken by Japanese soldiers to Kobe House war camp in Japan, where they remained prisoners of war until the conflict finally ended.