Kentish Express Ashford & District
Tributes to war hero John, 97
Veteran of special operations unit in Burma
Tributes have been paid to a 97-year-old who survived shocking conditions during the Second World War.
John Hutchin, from Tenterden, 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 said: “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.
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.
He was an avid member of the Chindit Society up to his death.
He often attended reunions and last year his recollections of his struggles in Burma were widely shared online.
Mr Hutchin later tried his hand at a range of jobs. He would sell caravans, then tyres and would go on to open three garages in London. Selling those off, he moved to Tenterden from the capital 20 years ago.
But later decided to re-enter the workplace and got a job with the Cookery and Food Association, providing meals for places including Buckingham Palace.
Wife Ann recalls that away from work, he enjoyed painting and pottery and working on their garden and bungalow.
She said: “He was always occupied with something. John was an army man through and through. Throughout all our time together, there was never a boring moment.”
Mr Hutchin, who died on March 18, is survived by his wife of 64 years Ann, two sons, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
‘The stench of dead men and mules became overwhelming in the heat’