FAMILY and friends remembered a Second World War veteran as a fearless man.

Eric Vernon Potton passed away aged 100 on Friday, August 3, at the Haven Nursing Home in Telscombe Cliffs. He was born in Wimbledon on October 13, 1917. He also went to school in London before being drafted to Assam, India, to fight the Japanese.

Eric survived a gunshot wound in the neck and he was the sole survivor when the rest of his platoon was killed by a bomb attack.

He got married after the war and in 1957 he moved to Devil’s Dyke. He was an electrical wholesaler until retirement.

Eric was also the chairman of the Burma Star Association and a member of the Brighton British Legion. His daughter Valerie Hitchens, who is retired, said: “My father was an old-fashioned man. He didn’t talk much about the war to me. He didn’t open up much about his life. His father passed away when he was young and then he was in the war. My father was a Freemason and enjoyed golf. He and his friends used to organise charity golf days.

“He attended Remembrance Sunday every year. I had accompanied him for 31 years. He met Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Anne at the VJ Parade in 2015.

“When he turned 100 he still attended Remembrance Sunday. Then his health declined and he was bedridden last Christmas. He stayed in Haven Nursing Home until he passed away.”

Bill Spencer, 75, who lives in Peacehaven, was a friend of Eric. He said: “I’ve known Eric for 30 years and I would never forget his sense of humour. He was still smoking at 100.

“I was at his 100th birthday and I pushed him outside in his wheelchair and I said to him ‘do you know this will kill you?’

“He replied ‘well, it’s taken a long time then’. He was quite a character.

“He was tough because he was a solider . I knew Eric because I was a business partner of his son-in-law. He was a representative selling electrical components and I had a shop in Rottingdean. Eric was a typical soldier and had the attitude of ‘been there done that’. Eric was very proud of his regiment and had always attended the Remembrance Sunday service in Brighton before travelling to Rottingdean to be at the service on The Green.”