Brant's grandson Cameron is a friend of Jacinda's partner Clarke Gayford and between them, they organised the special video.
A photo board and a book outlined episodes in his life and daughter-in-law Lynne had arranged another book to record his history to the present day. Also, as a member of the Whangamata Ukulele Group, she arranged for them to entertain the gathering.
With him to help celebrate his big day were his young brother Wes, aged 92, son John, grandsons Cam and Krister and great-grandchildren Zara, 8, and Jake, 6, as well as many cousins and friends.
Born in Blenheim on January 21, 1918, the son of a Methodist minister, Brant got used to moving around because his father was sent to pastoral duties in places such as Granity, Reefton, Sheffield and other remote areas.
He was sent to Napier Boys High to complete his education in 1932 and 1933 before getting a job in Wellington at Post Office headquarters.
"Most of us had joined the Territorials and were members of the Central Districts Signal Company. Most of us would turn up at work one day every month in uniform — complete with stirrups because we rode horses," Brant said.
When war was declared on October 3, 1939, Brant immediately went into the New Zealand Army, based at Trentham Camp, in the stores section.
Two months later he and 112 fellow soldiers boarded ship and set sail for Sydney.
Over the next few weeks, they travelled via ship, road and rail to Melbourne, Adelaide, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, and through the Red Sea to Aden then on to Egypt where they disembarked at Port Said before being taken to Cairo.
The advance party's job was to set up camp and infrastructure ready for the 1st Echelon. Following that they were sent to Italy, back to Cairo, on to Greece and Aden then to Souda Bay, Crete. It was there the Germans caught up with them and he was kept a prisoner-of-war for four years.
