Selwyn Stanger was certainly surprised when three members of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (RNZIR) arrived at the doorstep of his Oamaru home yesterday .
They came to deliver a letter from Chief of Army Major-general John Boswell to honour Mr Stanger on his birthday.
Mr Stanger was a corporal in a patrol drawn from 18 platoon D Company during World War 2.
"It was an adventure in life," he said.
"You always have thoughts going back to it."
And many them were good memories.
"The only thing to volunteer for in the army was leave, and I took everything I could."
Having grown up in Glenavy, 22km north of Oamaru, he was keen to explore, travelling from Rome to Florence.
His favourite place was the Italian port city of Trieste, which borders what was then a part of Yugoslavia but is now Slovenia.
"We lived up there for a month or two. That was the last job we did ... the border patrol."
He remembered floating on the waters, made buoyant by high levels of salt.
"It was sort of a holiday there when the war finished."
During his service he made many good friends.
"I don’t think there’s many of us left anymore."
Lieutenant-colonel Tim Tuatini, who delivered the Chief of Army’s letter, thanked Mr Stanger for his service.
"You are our history," Lt-col Tuatini said.
Mr Stanger said the trick to a long life was to "just keep going".
"Never give up."
He certainly did not.
Exactly two weeks before his birthday, Mr Stanger had a heart attack and spent a week in Oamaru Hospital.
Now back at home, he was feeling better and happy he "came right" just in time for his birthday, he said.
"It’s a milestone.
"I am as happy as can be."
Mr Stanger married Pat McEwan in 1948 before moving to Weston, west of Oamaru.
He picked up different jobs, from truck driving to quarry work — but what stuck was raspberries.
For 20 years, Mr Stanger grew them commercially.
He and his wife moved to Oamaru about 35 years ago.
They were married for 73 years. Mrs Stanger died at the end of April this year.
Together they had six children, 16 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.
Two of their sons remained in North Otago — Bill visited him at least once a day and Trevor had lunch with him almost every day, he said.
"They always turn up. They are very good that way."
