Celebrating my 108th? Not much different to turning 101

Doctors told Jim his PoW ordeal could knock 10 years off his life

- MARK MCGIVERN

A WAR hero who survived three years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp has received a letter from the King to mark his 108th birthday.

Scot Jim Easton celebrated the milestone at his New Zealand care home. He is believed to be the oldest man in the country and one of the oldest World War II survivors.

Jim suffered sickness, hunger and beatings while constructing Burma's Railway of Death.

And when he was released from the camp-weighing less than seven-and-a-half stone-medics told him the ill-treatment could knock at least 10 years off his life.

But despite his ordeal, the old soldier has lived a long, happy life. He moved to Australia as a teenager and joined their army at 23, where he was a signalman in the 8th Division Signals regiment.