It was rain season in 1945 in Burma and Private Leslie Burkett was waiting at a jungle's edge with his regiment to be flown home, when, in the distance, a group of emaciated men, only wearing loincloths, appeared.

At first, he thought the huddle were Japanese soldiers but it soon became clear they were newly-freed British prisoners of war, and Mr Burkett, along with his unit, insisted they take the plane home instead.

"They were as thin as a poker. We had to give up our plane, of course we did," said Mr Burkett, now 99, from his Tonbridge town centre home. It was another two or three weeks before the regiment could see their families.

Mr Burkett has spoken of his time as a solder in Asia during the Second World War, to mark the 75th anniversary of VJ Day, which took place on Saturday. VJ Day commemorates the day Japan surrendered.

Born in Sittingbourne, Mr Burkett joined the army in 1941, aged 19. After his training he was posted to India with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, then Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka.

He spent the last two years of the war in Burma, at that time a British colony, now known as Myanmar, where has the most "harrowing" memories, according to his daughter, Irene Young.

The young man was part of the artillery unit when he arrived but they had to switch to infantry as troops couldn't carry the heavy weaponry while walking through dense foliage.

Temperatures were unbearable and drinking water was sparse. Mr Burkett remembers a friend running out of water, and about to hand over some of his, when a sergeant told him that "under no circumstances" was he to share.

"His friend's survival rate was a lot lower than dad's because he was already dehydrated," Mrs Young, 69, said.

"Lots of people got malaria, they just dropped down and laid there. You had the medical staff coming from behind, even they were falling down," Mr Burkett said.

The former council lorry driver remembers his regiment joining the Battle of Ramree Island in January, 1945, after Japan captured the site and the allied forces wanted to establish airbases.

Troops rushed from their ship on to a barge, using the ropes normally used to collect supplies, to shimmy down.

One man got his foot caught in the line and spun upside down, but the soldiers were told there was no time to save him and he died.

As soldiers clamoured on to the barge, some were crushed between the two ships and didn't survive, including two of Mr Burkett's friends.

When the news came through on the radio that Hiroshoma and Nagasaki had been bombed, signalling the end of the war, the unit still had to march for three weeks to get back to their depot.

Upon return to England, Mr Burkett married a war widow, Millie, whose first husband was shot over Italy.

They were together for 63 years before Millie passed away. Mr Burkett worked for Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council for 25 years.

For the last four years, Mr Burkett has laid a wreath at the Tonbridge Remembrance Day Service, and celebrated VJ Day at home, with his family.

Speaking of her father, Mrs Young said: “All our friends and family are so proud of Dad and everything he did during the war.

"He wanted to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VJ Day because he knows how fortunate he was to come out of Burma alive when so many of his comrades didn’t survive.

"But despite all he went through, he has never lost his sense of humour and his spirit. We all have so much love and respect for him and are so pleased that at 99 he was still able to celebrate this special anniversary.”

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