A 104-year-old Northumberland veteran will launch the UK’s first National Cadets Week.
Christopher Hutchinson joined the cadets 90 years ago as a schoolboy, an experience he credits with shaping his life.
He later served 46 years in the British Army, including as a tank commander in the Royal Tank Regiment during the Second World War.
He fought in North Africa and Italy, where he was wounded and captured after his Churchill tank was destroyed by a bazooka strike.
He spent eight months as a prisoner of war before being liberated in 1945.
Now an ambassador for the Combined Cadet Force, Mr Hutchinson is leading National Cadets Week with a message of hope and encouragement for today’s young cadets.
National Cadets Week runs from October 5 to 11 and celebrates the impact of cadet forces across the UK.
It aims to highlight the skills and values gained through the cadet experience, including leadership, teamwork and resilience.
Mr Hutchinson’s early training began at Ardvreck preparatory school, where he won the Montgomery Bowl for marksmanship.
He later represented Charterhouse at Bisley, winning trophies and a pair of binoculars that accompanied him to North Africa and Italy.
In March 1940, not yet 18, he asked his mother for permission to join the Army, but she refused, insisting he wait a year.
Instead, he joined the Local Defence Volunteers, later the Home Guard, after hearing Anthony Eden’s broadcast.
Using his cadet training, he was tasked with forming and training a platoon of volunteers in Northumberland.
He spent a year training farm workers, foresters, postmen and engineers before enlisting in the Royal Tank Regiment in June 1941.
He trained at Catterick and was selected for officer training at Sandhurst.
By spring 1942, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and deployed to North Africa in March 1943 as a troop leader in A Squadron, 48th Royal Tank Regiment.
In September 1944, during a night advance near Rimini, his tank was hit by a bazooka.
He and his gunner escaped but were captured by German soldiers.
He was taken to Stalag VII-A at Moosburg, a prisoner-of-war camp near Munich.
Food was scarce, and contact with home was nearly impossible.
Liberation came on April 29, 1945, when American forces arrived at the camp.
He returned to England on VE Day, weighing just seven stone at 23 years old.
After the war, he continued his Army career, serving in Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium and Italy.
He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1987.
Mr Hutchinson, from Whittingham, married Jinny in June 1946, and they spent 73 years together.
They had five children, ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
One of their sons commanded an armoured engineer regiment during the Gulf War, and another led the UK’s Air Defence Brigade.
Despite his long and eventful life, Mr Hutchinson credits his early days as a cadet with setting him on the path to success.
His message to young cadets is clear: "Be proud of who you are, take every opportunity seriously, look after one another and believe that you are capable of more than you realise."
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