A former prisoner of war held captive by the Japanese for three and a half years during WWII has celebrated his 108^th birthday today.

New Zealand’s oldest man, James Easton, marked the occasion at his home at Ryman Healthcare’s Grace Joel Village in Auckland with long-time friends and a few special guests from Australia.

While he has lived in New Zealand since 1947, James, or Jim as his friends know him, was born in 1916 in Kirkintilloch, Scotland and then spent his formative years in the Hunter Valley in NSW, Australia.

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This led to him joining the Australian Army at the age of 23, where he was a Signalman in the 8^th Division Signals Regiment.

However, his wartime service in Singapore was cut short after just a few months when he and his fellow Signalmen were captured by the Japanese. Later he would spend time constructing the notorious Burma railway.

On being released three and a half years later, having been mistreated and malnourished, Jim weighed just 47kg. His normal weight was closer to 80kg.

Medics said at the time that the experience would likely knock at least 10 years off his life.

However, Jim has defied all expectations, spending 60 years working ‘in showbusiness’, managing crews who set up games and equipment for A&P shows around New Zealand, many of whom still visit him each week and were there to celebrate his special day with him with his regular request of chocolate cake.

He travelled back to Australia to take part in Anzac parades right up until he was 96 and had visited the war graves of his fallen comrades in Singapore, Thailand and Burma on six times too.

Jim in uniform after the war had ended

Jim in uniform after the war had ended

He now participates in the Anzac commemorations at Grace Joel Village, where he usually reads the Ode.

Grace Joel Village Manager Murray Parkes said every year that Jim added to his long life made his incredible story even more remarkable.

“Jim is absolutely one of a kind,” Murray said. “He is a unique individual who, having survived an incredibly difficult experience during the war, has never let that dull his enthusiasm for life, his sense of humour or his will power.

“Having outlived his wife and daughter, he has built up a very loyal surrogate family of friends and former employees from his 60-plus years of work on the showgrounds and it’s clear the great level of regard and affection they have for him.

“Jim is always a big part of the village’s Anzac commemoration and, speaking on behalf of the team here, we are all very proud to play a part in looking after him in his later life.”

As well as being New Zealand’s oldest man, Jim is believed to be Australia’s most senior veteran, something his old regiment has discovered in recent years.

In February 2023, the Commander of the Australian Army’s 6^th Brigade and Head of Corps (Signals), Brigadier Gregory Novak, visited Jim to honour him.

“We think it’s a pretty safe bet that you would be the veteran of Royal Australian Corps of Signals with the longest history with the Corps,” Brig Novak told Jim at the time.

Following that visit, Brig Novak sent two younger representatives of the regiment, Captain Shani Edwards and Corporal Matt Woods, to celebrate Jim’s 107^th birthday last year, and this year Lieutenant Will Williamson and fellow Signaller Corporal Tamara Madzika were there to mark his 108^th.

The pair presented Jim with a regimental tie and tie pin, brought out specially for the regiment’s 100^th anniversary next year. Jim also tried on Tamara’s hat, with a little assistance!

“Meeting Jim already feels like a life-changing experience that we are both so grateful to have been afforded, Lieutenant Williamson said.

“It has been wonderful over the last year, and now including this year, for our people to come and celebrate Jim’s birthday – what a fantastic life he has lived,” a spokesman for the regiment added.

Jim has had an eventful year, including succumbing to COVID-19 for the first time, having an overnight stay in Auckland Hospital after a fall, and responding to a request for an interview from a Japanese film crew. He agreed to take part in the special film which will mark the 80^th anniversary of the end of WWII when it airs in 2025.

Asked how it felt to be 108, Jim replied with his customary sense of humour. “Not much different to how it felt to be 101!”

While he joked about craving a cigarette and a bottle of whisky, his friends all know that he has actually maintained a lifelong abstinence from drinking or smoking after seeing the effects it had on the miners in the Hunter Valley. It is something which he credits his amazing longevity to.

“I have never smoked a cigarette or drunk a drop of alcohol. And here I am now, Jimmy’s the King of the World!” he joked.