Tributes have been paid to a 97-year-old who survived shocking conditions during the Second World War.

John Hutchin, from Tenterden, died on March 18, having enjoyed a long retirement after a career at an insurance company.

However the trained fire surveyor had a rough start to his professional life, as he joined the Chindits special operations unit and was sent behind Japanese lines to Burma at the age of 19.

Now seen as one of the most extreme battle arenas of the Second World War, the Chindits dealt with difficult terrain, malnutrition and a range of diseases during 1943 and 1944.

John Hutchin had no jungle training but he had been hardened by a tough childhood.

Taking his place in the South Staffords’ 80 Column, he recalled: “I took tremendous pride in such company.

"They were hard Black Country men. I may have been small, but I was full of aggression. I had no fear; nothing seemed to frighten me.”

He was among the troops flown into the heart of the jungle in Dakotas, and had to set up a one-mile-squared fortress when the Japanese forces began to attack their column.

In 40°C heat, they fended off daily attacks for seven weeks as they were resupplied by air.

Recalling one day, Mr Hutchin recalled: "Hundreds attacked us at about 7am, with the last daylight assault at around 4pm. Night attacks followed.

"I didn’t think we would hold them off that long but we took a lot of punishment. One man died in my trench - shrapnel cut his stomach open.

"The airdrops included lime, as the stench of dead men and mules became overwhelming in the heat.”

A change in leader, and the monsoon season in May 1944, saw the Chindits begin a downward spiral of malaria, dysentery, typhus, exhaustion and slow starvation.

Only 550 of the original 2,000 could fight and, after battling to take Moguang, John became delirious due to starvation, malaria, bad bouts of fever and a shrapnel wound in the neck.

"He was always an army man..."

Upon recovering, he rejoined his column after three days' marching and was transferred to a special team persuading Japanese hold-outs that the war was over.

That was until 1947, when he arrived back in Britain to carry out one of his last duties - to escort Nazi war criminals for trial at Nuremburg.

John would go on to try his hand at a range of jobs, with wife of 64 years Ann calling him a life-long salesman.

He would sell caravans, then tires, and would go on to open three garages in London.

Selling those off, he moved down to Tenterden from the capital 20 years ago as a sort of retirement and to live nearer to his children.

But he then decided to re-enter the workplace and got a job with the Cookery and Food Association, providing meals for places including Buckingham Palace.

Ann recalls that away from work, he enjoyed painting and pottery before working on the garden and bungalow that became their Kent home.

Though he found it hard to adjust to civilian life, John was always busy as an avid member of the Chindit Society up to his death.

He often attended reunions and last year his recollections of his struggle for survival in Burma were widely shared online.

She said: "He was always, always occupied with something.

"John was an army man through and through, and we had many great occasions going down to the 77 Brigade in Newbury and meeting other soldiers.

"His life was very full of army stuff, he was always an army man.

"We've had some great times together, we really have.

"Throughout all our time together, there was never a boring moment.

"I look back on it and think how lucky I've been all these years. I got everything I wanted - a happy life, two beautiful children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren."

John was strongly against having a funeral, highlighting how many of the men he knew in Burma didn't get one, so he was instead cremated.

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