AN old soldier who claims the Ministry of Defence is refusing to pay him money wrongly deducted from his war pension has vowed to battle on.

Major Richard Perkins is adamant he is among veterans owed millions of pounds after the MoD admitted the soldiers had been taxed when they should not have been.

However, men from the ministry are offering Major Perkins only two years' compensation because of the conditions of his discharge from the services 42 years ago.

Major Perkins joined the Royal Marines in the 1930s.

At the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the 7th Border Regiment and was sent to India, in 1942, where he later took part in the Chindit Operation Thursday behind Japanese lines in Burma.

He remained with the Army after the war, later joining the Royal Leicestershires.

However, in 1959, he was discharged from the Army after suffering a nervous breakdown. Major Perkins said his condition was caused by a senior officer who victimised him because he wanted a friend appointed to his post.

But although it has adjusted Major Perkins' pension to take its administrative error into account, the Ministry of Defence is refusing to pay him full compensation.

At home in Lastingham, near Pickering, North Yorkshire, the 83-year-old said yesterday: "I have no doubt the money is owed to me by the Ministry of Defence, and it will have to pay or it will be breaking a law which dates back to the First World War.

"The law is clear cut and, by discussing my state of fitness, the MoD is merely playing games."

Major Perkins lives in rented accommodation, which leaves him only £50 of disposable income a month. The remainder of his bills are paid by his son, who sends money from his home in Australia.