WWII vet Daniel Long, 104, urges the young to make peace their priority

"I would like the younger generation to really value peace," Mr Long said.

"There should never be world wars again. War is the worst thing and I would like the younger generation to make peace their priority."

His message comes from 'life lived' knowledge serving in the occupation forces in Germany during and immediately after World War II.

Mr Long was born in January 1920 in Buckinghamshire in Great Britain and joined the British army reserves before joining up full-time when the war started.

He became a machine gunner and serving in France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.

"I was very lucky to survive being a machine gunner," Mr Long said.

"This meant we were targets for the Germans and a lot of our men didn't last that long."

Mr Long was in the D-Day landing in France in 1944.

"We had a rough time getting ashore because the Germans had fighter bomber planes which they used to try to sink our ships and prevent us from landing," he said. "We lost quite a lot of men but we got there. We got onto trucks and battled our way through France, Belgium, Holland and into Germany.

"On another occasion my platoon was attacked at first light by a German suicide squad that were left behind to try to capture our machine guns.

"I was blown by mortar fire into a shell crater that was quite deep. I was unconscious, I don't know for how long, and I was mistaken for dead.

"If it hadn't have been for the fact that I was in the bottom of this crater unconscious, I would have been dead.

"We had 28 men and one officer that day. Five men were killed, several more wounded.

"Eventually when I recovered consciousness I climbed out and found our platoon commander and what was left of the platoon."

The taking of a German POW was a turning point.

He saw a Sergeant from his own regiment savagely beat a teenage German Prisoner of War which went against all the rules of warfare.

Mr Long found this horrifying and the incident gave him a sense of social justice and helped hone his belief that we are all human beings even though we were on opposite sides of the conflict.

Mr Long dedicated his life to pacifism.

His war experiences committed him to a staunch belief that we should be striving for peace. He hoped that would be the war to end all wars and was distressed to see war with all its horrors continued.

When the war finished, Mr Long was in the forces of occupation for three years.

It was during these years that he worked in a bakery and learned to cook which formed his future direction.

He became a chef which took him forwards in his career after his army service.

"I worked in numerous restaurants in England and also in a few different hotels," he said.

"I changed course slightly upon arriving in Australia 1965 and moved into aviation catering, where I spent sixteen years working for QANTAS in-flight catering in Sydney."

Settling in Caringbah Mr Long and his wife, Anne were married for seventy-five years and enjoyed a wonderful marriage.

"I absolutely adored my wife. We had five beautiful children together and we are a very loving family. I now have six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren," he said.

"Good food, dear friends and family have made me a very happy man. A bit of music as well as the occasional beer go a long way to a smile and a chuckle as well," he said.

"I have learnt that if something is important it is worth doing well, so I have put my efforts into working towards positive change.

"It is the smallest of conversations that can change how people view the world and the actions they take moving forward."

Mr Long was to be presented with a special medal from the Kogarah RSL Sub-branch at the Anzac Commemoration Service on Wednesday, April 24 at the Georges Estate Health and Aged Care Community in Penshurst where he is now a resident.

The medal presentation is to celebrate his time serving his country and the Commonwealth. This special honour is being bestowed on only six returned servicemen in the region.