War nightmares haunt Claude after 74 years - but his wife Gwen is helping him through it
'If it wasn't for Gwen I would not be here today - there were terrible things which happened and I'm still affected today'.
Burma War veteran Claude Pardoe, still haunted by the conflict, has praised his wife for her enduring support as the couple mark 70 years' marriage.
Pte Pardoe fought the soldiers from the Empire of Japan for 18 months up until its defeat in Burma, spending up to six weeks at a time in fierce jungle warfare.
The 95-year-old saw the cruel tactics of the Japanese at first hand and can still see images of tortured soldiers hanging upside down from ropes in the jungle.
So recurrent are his memories that he still wakes up 'fighting' in the middle of the night, only for Gwen, 91, to calm him down and send him back to sleep.
He received a Burma Star, but said it has been 'flung in a back of a cupboard'.
Speaking from their home in Cannock, he said: "Gwen has done everything for me, she has been my rock and helped me through so much."
He added: "What I saw in Burma was terrible, terrible.
"As soldiers back then we were born into it.
"If you were not prepared to kill anyone, you did not deserve to be a soldier.
"You were trained to kill, kill, kill.
"But I want to forget all that."
Pte Pardoe joined the 1st Battalion of North Staffordshire Regiment in 1942 and after training in Lichfield and Colchester was sent to India.
He served in Bombay and Delhi, regularly dispatched to put down uprisings across the country.
In 1944 he was sent to Burma as part of the Fourteen Army to fight alongside the Gurkhas, until the defeat of the Japanese in 1945.
He then worked as clerk in India before returning home.
On his return, he met Gwen while working as a foreman at John Webb brass foundry in Hockley, Birmingham.
It was a strange coincidence, she said, because the pair had lived a door apart in the same road in Lozells growing up.
Gwen, who was an assembler who had joined the company after serving in the Land Army, said: "I saw him walking down the steps and we said 'hello' and walked home together.
"We then started walking to and from work everyday and became close.
"Then one day we decided to get married."
The pair married at St Silas' Church in Lozells before a honeymoon in Torquay.
They moved into their first home in Northfield and then to Cannock in 1962, where they have lived ever since.
They have four children, Glen, Jane, Sonia and Sylvia.
Pte Pardoe said: "We have our ups and downs, but we have always been happy, really happy, together.
"We're lucky to have not just ourselves but also our family to support us."
The couple celebrated their anniversary on Tuesday (2) with a meal out with their family.
