AS I waded up a difficult beach at Klang on the west coast of Malaya in August 1945 I had reason to be thankful; I was a part of a major combined operation to retake Malaya from the Japanese, and my role was to provide forward reconnaissance for a regiment of tanks. 

In the event an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Japanese surrendered, our landing was unopposed and my life was almost certainly spared.

Fearing their use, nuclear weapons, however distasteful, have kept the peace between the major powers ever since.

When I returned to Britain in 1946 after five years of service in India and the Far-East, I found a tired nation, struggling with shortages, rationing, and the repair of bomb damage but, above all, thankful to be at peace at last; a peace which, unlike the previous 100 years, has been maintained between the main European powers ever since, in large part due to the European Union.

Today, after years of negative reporting Britons do not realise how fortunate we are. 

By world standards we are one of the most prosperous nations with a high level of employment, stability and security. 

This after four decades within the EU; why should we be invited to change for all the uncertainties and no promise of better times.

Consider the probabilities following a vote to leave; because their leaders have already said so, the Scots are likely to seek a further referendum on independence. This would end the most successful partnership of 400 years; no more Great Britain; no more United Kingdom.

Britain could be sleep walking into disaster. 

A vote to leave and both political parties will be found in disarray.

My nightmare is of a Conservative cabinet dominated by the views Gove, Johnson, Farage and George Galloway.

A B Merriam Dorstone Hereford