A WAR veteran who was shot in the head and left for dead by the Japanese has written a book about his experiences.

Pensioner Tom Taylor, 78, of Fox Lane, Leyland, suffered horrendous head injuries while defending his country in Burma during the World War Two which left him with only two of his five senses -- hearing and touch.

Now he has written a book about his life entitled Through the Hole in My Head. Tom visited Southlands High School, in Chorley, last week to talk to pupils about the text.

It was during a critical stage of the war in 1945 that Tom and other soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the Border Regiment went to the Sat Pan Gon border following a Japanese attempt to invade India.

They were stormed by the Japanese and Tom, then aged 24, was shot in the head and left lying in a pool of blood surrounded by members of his regiment. The bullet went in one side of his skull and out the other.

It was not until five days later when the British troops returned to the site to bury the dead that Tom was discovered badly injured and semi-unconscious. Tom said: "There were more than 50 men dead and many were my friends. I was leading a section of men and we had been ordered to advance.

"When we got to the top of the beach the bullets started coming and one went through my hat.

"I was only semi-conscious and had no feeling. I was transferred to a field medical hospital by helicopter. But I was so weak they couldn't operate with anaesthetic so I had to be hypnotised."

Tom was unconscious for two months, he was transferred to a hospital in India before being flown back to the UK.

Mr Goulden, head of history at Southlands, said: "Tom was a superb role model for pupils who were able to see how, by sheer determination, people can overcome great adversities. He is an amazing man."

Tom's book, published by Methodist Publishing House, is available at the Christian Book Shop, Fox Street, Preston, priced £8.95.

BRAVE: Tom with Southlands High School pupils.