Veterans, bikers and standard bearers are being invited to form a guard of honour at the funeral of a war hero thought to have been one of the last surviving members of an elite special forces unit.

Bob Richards, of Salisbury Road, Chatham, passed away just short of his 92nd birthday and his funeral is being held at the Garden of England Crematorium in Bobbing at 10am on Monday.

Gurkhas from the 16th Air Assault Brigade, of which Mr Richards was one of the first members 62 years ago, will also be attending.

Those who cannot attend Mr Richards’ funeral are asked to line Salisbury Road at 9am.

An expert mechanic and driver, Mr Richards’ time in the Army took him all around Burma and India during the Second World War; first with the Royal Hampshire Regiment and then the 16th Parachute Regiment.

He was then picked as one of 200 men to make up a new Special Airborne Service unit, after which he joined the 23rd Chindits special force.

The Chindits, known officially as the Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British and Indian armies, which saw action in 1943–1944, during the Burma Campaign of the Second World War.

In early 1944, Mr Richards’ unit saw horrendous fighting against the Japanese including hand to hand at close quarters with knives and machetes.

The Chindits helped to drive the Japanese out of Burma and prevented India from being invaded.

In 1945 the Chindits were changed to an airborne role and he became a paratrooper.

While in the army he also worked as chauffeur to high ranking officers and even Lady Mountbatten, as well as being a dispatch motorcycle rider.

He also drove Gen Wingate before Wingate was killed in a plane crash and ran all the motor transport for the Brigade for the senior officers.

After the war he took on a new role driving buses in Chatham which is where he met his wife Freda.

In 2015, his family organised a special treat for his 90th birthday which saw him picked up from his home in a Willys jeep, before a drive to the Armed Forces Day celebrations in Great Lines Heritage Park, where he joined other veterans and serving soldiers.