THE incredible story of a young Second World War corporal, told in his own words, has been published by his daughter.

Ernest Reynolds, known as Ben, was born and brought up in Mistley, and served his country from the age of 19.

During the war, he was captured in Africa, held in two prisoner of war camps and escaped by trekking across Italy.

After the war, he penned his story on the advice of his doctor to “get it off his chest”.

Eleven years after his death, his daughter, Gina Reynolds, who now lives in Sydney, Australia, decided to share his story in the book, Call Me Corp.

She said: “It’s written by a knockabout, regular bloke and not an officer.

“It’s not a diary of events, it’s a personal memoir, told as a gripping story.

“It’s hard to put down. You can’t believe all those dreadful things happened to one man.”

Ben was born in 1920, the youngest of three children.

At 16, he volunteered in the Territorial Army and begun training as a carpenter.

On September 2, 1939, the day before war was officially declared, he joined the Army.

He was captured in 1942 during the Battle of Gazala and shipped to a PoW camp in Italy.

He tells of the horrific conditions, saying: “We were treated like animals, so had no alternative but to act the same.”

After 18 months he escaped and spent 58 days trekking through the Italian countryside, but was recaptured as a spy and sentenced to death, but avoided the fate.

On his return to the UK, King George VI presented him with the Military Medal for bravery and courage in the field.

The book is available online.

Gina, who has worked in TV for Blue Peter and is now a freelance writer, recently presented the book to the Imperial War Museum in London.

She said: “It was an emotional moment. Dad would have been overwhelmed.

“His nightmares continued and this occasion would have released him and given him that longed-for sense of peace.”

In 1977, Ben had the medal mounted on a silver chain and gave it to Gina on her wedding day. She said: “I knew as soon as I saw the medal on the chain that this was probably going to be the best present my father would ever give me. What marked one of his proudest moments was gifted to me.”