00:00 In 1938, at just 20 years of age, Colin Waggoner joined the Army with his three best friends.
00:07 I knew a war was coming and I thought we'd win it before they came and got us sort of thing.
00:14 He would be the only one of the foursome to return home.
00:18 During his service, Mr Waggoner worked his way up the ranks to Sergeant, a promotion that took him on an unexpected journey.
00:26 It was very, very secret where we were going and we finished up in a convoy heading for Borneo.
00:33 As a keen photographer, Mr Waggoner knew he had to capture the moment of history.
00:37 He traded rationed cigarettes for darkroom equipment to develop film at night.
00:42 Those photos would later feature at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
00:47 That's the front line, that's just there.
00:49 He returned home at the end of the war in 1945, eventually boarding a train to Adelaide.
00:55 My father picked me up and brought me home.
00:58 It was a wonderful feeling to walk up to my front door knowing I'd never have to go away again.
01:04 The now 106-year-old describes Anzac Day as his holy day, but the veteran has never chosen to march.
01:12 I respect it all. I do what I have to do.
01:17 It's not my thing.
01:23 Some people finished their service life and they wanted to go back to their life.
01:26 They didn't see it as a continuation, they wanted to go back to something else.
01:30 And others, in my view, wrongly, treat their service differently from the way that other veterans treat their service.
01:39 Mr Waggoner considers the years after the end of the war as his bonus years and attributes his longevity to living an active lifestyle.
01:48 I think with health, I'm just lucky.
01:52 And so he marches on in his bonus years. He'll be 107 in December.
01:57 Remember.
01:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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