SCENES of "joy and relief" after the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were remembered this week by a former British soldier.

Harold Robinson was among a contingent of 750 Royal Marines who were about to be sent to fight the Japanese in Malaysia. And he remembers the joy among British troops when they learned America had used atomic weapons, sparing them from conflict.

Along with his fellow marines, he had spent four months in India receiving intensive training in jungle warfare. And for them, the Japanese surrender meant the chance to return home within months instead of spending years fighting the war in the East.

Now 95 and living in Otley, Mr Robinson said: "In 1945, when the war in Europe was known to be coming to an end, I was sent out with a party of 750 Royal Marines to the Far East.

"We were about to be deployed when word came through America had dropped the atom bombs. We cheered like mad because we realised the Japanese would be forced into a surrender and we wouldn't be fighting in the jungles of Malaysia.

"We were told when we went out there the war against Japan was likely to last another four years at least and that we wouldn't come back home until it was over, if we came back at all.

"So it was a big relief to know we wouldn't be fighting our way through the jungle."

But he stressed: "There are two sides to this. A lot of lives were lost because of the decision to drop the bomb, but if they hadn't sacrificed all those lives, a lot of Allied soldiers would have been killed and the war would have dragged on for many years."

Mr Robinson and his fellow Royal Marines were among those who took the surrender of Singapore, freeing British and Allied prisoners from the notorious Changi Jail where they had received appalling treatment.

He remembers Singapore being chaotic and with Japanese troops in far flung outposts being reluctant to surrender.

"We were in Singapore until just before Christmas. When we left Singapore we went to Ceylon and finished on a British naval base where we celebrated Christmas," he added.

Mr Robinson had already faced perils with the convoys in the Arctic, and his role has now been recognised with the awarding of three medals.

He finally received an Arctic Star in 2013, and he has now been presented with a Ushakov from the Russian Federation, for bravery in the Arctic Ocean, and an anniversary medal commemorating '70 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War'.

He received both medals – which his daughter had collected for him from the Russian Embassy in London – on his 95th birthday on June 6.

The Otley branch of the Royal British Legion held a small celebration in Mr Robinson's honour last week, ahead of a more formal presentation that will take place later this year.

During his time with the Arctic Convoys – escorting merchant ships taking vital supplies to the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945 – he helped bring a squadron of Hurricane fighter planes, and British pilots, to Murmansk.

His other wartime exploits included serving on HMS Argus on the Malta Convoys, when he saw the Ark Royal sink as his ship zig-zagged desperately to avoid torpedoes.

Upon finally receiving his Arctic Star medal in 2013, he told the Wharfedale & Aireborough Observer he looked back on his involvement in the conflict with a huge sense of relief.

He added: "I was young so I didn't think about the danger, and there weren't many ways of getting out and seeing the world back then, so it was like a great adventure.

"But I had a lot of close scrapes. I was very fortunate."