Family and friends gathered at the Wee Waa Bowling club on August 28 to celebrate the 96th birthday of John Collett.
John, who prefers to be called John rather than Mr Collett, is a well-known local identity.
He served as a gunner in the 2/1st Field Regiment 6th Division in the Aitape-Wewak campaign in New Guinea during World War II.
John is Wee Waa’s only surviving Australian World War II veteran and is one of the community’s admired servicemen and women who receives special recognition at Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services, along with Frank Hadley, who served in the American Navy at the end of World War II.
John has lived in Wee Waa since the end of the war, it’s the town where he married his late wife Fay and where they raised their children. The couple had three children Gary, Terry and Judith, now John has more than 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren to keep him on his toes.
After the war, John turned his hand to many jobs, mostly roles on the land working in shearing sheds across the North West and New England region.
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