VJ Day anniversary surprise for Sutton son of war soldier

David George, of Searby Road, was watching the celebration when he saw the familiar face projected onto Horse Guards building in London.

Retired toolmaker service manager David,69, said: “I was amazed and, to my joy, taken aback. I didn’t know the picture was going to be projected.”

His dad John Austin George was 17 when he joined the South Wales Borderers in Brecon. He was on the expeditionary force despatched to Norway in 1940.

Private George was sent to Burma two years later where he fought in the Battle of Pinwe. He jotted down his memories of the conflict.

For ten days, John and comrades were surrounded by the Japanese. He wrote: “After the wounded and Vickers gunners had left with the Americans we were cut off and then totally surrounded by Jap troops. Firing was intense. Three truck loads of food and ammunition were sent to relieve us. One was destroyed, one got through, and one was on No-Man’s-Land. Five of us were detailed to recover the truck. During the encounter the sergeant was shot in the leg and my three mates carried him back to our M.O. (medical officer). They never came back.

"I was alone with a truck of ammo and a Jap heavy Maxim gun and three light “bren” type; Japs had a go at me. My second in command came out to me with the order to take out the Hari Kari heavy Maxim machine gun. My only chance was to get so close to the Jap that he could not depress it on its tripod. I and my number two hit out at the Maxim and took it. Running low on ammunition we had some plastic phosphorus bombs which we fired from a Rifle Mills Bomb Discharger. We took off the cap, held the tape and lead and fired it at the Japanese machine guns. The Japs did not know how to cope with what had hit them. It broke their spirit and the Japanese ran ten miles to the River Shweli.”

John lived in Edwinstowe from 1953 and worked at Thoresby Colliery. His photo, which was shown on TV, graces The Campaign in Burma official war publication and George MacDonald Frazer’s book Quartered Safe Out Here.