Tributes as Burma hero dies aged 98

TRIBUTES have been paid to hero Richard Day who died weeks before the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day marking the official end of the Second World War.

- By Giles Sheldrick

He was a teenager when he fought in the Burma Campaign, contracting malaria and dysentery. Some 50,000 UK and Commonwealth troops died nearly half in prison camps.

Richard, 98, was part of the Royal Welch Fusiliers who fought the Japanese at the Battle of Kohima which marked a turning point in the Far East land campaign.