next to me the hardest

HE went through hell as his comrades and friends died all around him, only for his unit's bravery to be overlooked.

- BY LUCY THORNTON

Now, aged 104, Charlie Richards will finally be recognised as one of only two surviving Chindits.

The special operations unit worked in the jungles of Burma, fighting malaria and dysentery as well as the Japanese forces.

They carried out dangerous ambushes and were preparing to invade the Japanese home islands when VJ Day came 80 years ago.

Today, he will attend a national service of commemoration, hosted by the Royal British Legion, along side 32 other veterans including Sid Machin, 101, his fellow Chindit.

Charlie was only 19 when he got his call-up papers on the same day as Horace "Son" Johnson, another boy from Kettering, Northants.

The pair became best friends, and Charlie went on to be best man at Son's wedding.

They served in the 7th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment and ended up picked for the Chindits.

Charlie says: "Our parents had been notified by the War Office: 'Your son's safe, but you're not hearing from him for six months."

After a fraught plane journey, they landed in the dead of night on a tiny, makeshift landing strip carved out of the dense jungle.