A VETERAN who fought in one of the most gruelling operations of the Second World War celebrated his 100th birthday on Thursday.

George Claxton, who lives in Southbourne, is thought to be one of a small number of former Chindits alive today.

Known officially as the Long Range Penetration Groups, the Chindits were specially-trained troops who fought behind Japanese lines during the Burma campaign in 1943-44.

George, who was part of the Reconnaissance Corps, was involved in Operation Thursday - the second of the Chindit campaigns.

Faced with disease, difficult terrain and days without food, the troops faced, arguably, the worst prolonged infantry fighting experience of the war.

Recalling tales of George’s time in Burma, his niece, Veronica Evans, said: “We got a telegram once a month. I remember if one didn’t arrive my grandmother would be beside herself.

“When he first went over to Burma, he was in an armoured car. Major Fergusson gathered him and the other men in this clearing and said: ‘I’m going to take all these cars away from you’. He issued them with boots with a spare lot of hobnails before they set off into the jungle.

“They’d have been just as well off wearing slippers. They had to walk 700 miles, and when they came out of the jungle George contracted malaria.”

She added: “George is very, very special. He’s my uncle but he’s like a big brother to me as I was brought up by my grandparents.

“His mother died at the age of 103 and he wants to live as long as she did.”

Kevin Carter, a member of the 77 Brigade, which reformed in 2015, attended George’s birthday celebrations at Avon Lodge.

He said: “The Chindits were all ordinary people who did extraordinary things. They walked through the jungle towards India with rudimentary equipment, very little water and often had horrendous leg sores.

“All the food was dropped by air. If it didn’t arrive, they didn’t eat.”