Dannevirke veteran Bonny Bodley, on his 102nd birthday, still isn't taking anything for granted

Bonny Bodley still keeps his mind active. Photo / Leanne Warr

Bonny Bodley reckons people take a lot for granted these days.

"To create a sense of value, you've got to go without."

At 102, the Dannevirke resident knows a little something about going without.

He's lived through the Great Depression and served in World War II. In fact, he believes he could be Tararua's only surviving World War II veteran.

Born as Ivan Bodley, he was nicknamed Bonny, which his family reckoned was because he was "such a bonny baby".

His parents lived in Te Pohue, a little settlement on State Highway 5 in Hawke's Bay, also known as Bodley Town, possibly after his grandfather, who owned the hotel.

There was no road in Te Pohue, so his grandfather tried to build one, employing Bodley's father as a roading contractor.

Five years later, the family moved to Cole St, Dannevirke.

The only cars on the road at that time were Model T Fords.

His father began building roads at Weber, which meant he was away from home a lot, leaving mum to take care of the house and raise the family.

The area around Cole St wasn't that well developed.

"In those days there were that many empty sections, us kids would play cricket."

During the Great Depression, people didn't have a lot to eat and many got by with gardens so they could feed their families.

The trouble was, the local birds and insects also liked the crops.

"We had birds, they were just like clouds, flying around above you," Bodley recalled.

But when the farmers decided to poison the birds, that left nothing to eat the bugs.

"The farmers were satisfied for a while, but then they get up one morning and the place is white, not with snow, but with white butterflies."

So Bodley and the other kids tried to kill the butterflies with tennis racquets, but the gardens were destroyed.

He attended Dannevirke North school, which then bordered the Settlers Cemetery. He recalled one boy who was bigger than other children his age and would bully the smaller ones.

One night, Bodley and a friend decided to deal with it by "giving him a hiding".

That led to them being confronted by the boy's mother and the school headmaster, with the mother practically jumping up and down expecting severe punishment.

"The headmaster gave us a couple of slaps. When we got back to our rooms, we thought that was that. But when we went out, we were bloody heroes."

Bonny Bodley pictured in 2006 looking over his book of his experiences during the Second World War. Photo / NZME

In 1940, Bodley joined the New Zealand Army and, like many others, was deployed in the Pacific to fight in the war.

He was sent for his initial training to Waiouru, but the camp was still being completed.

"It was the most godforsaken place in the country," he said.

The men would travel at night on troop trains, eventually moving to Solway Camp in Masterton, where he experienced the "hardest training I'd ever done".

He went on to serve in New Caledonia where it would soon become part of his role to protect its shores from the Japanese fleet.

From there, he was sent to the Solomon Islands to help the Americans.

Conditions were primitive, he said. There was no hospital and no base camp.

The fighting in the Pacific was brutal, where the Japanese would attack from the rear and until the soldiers from New Zealand stepped in to help, the Americans were taking the brunt of the fighting.

By 1944, his division was in the Green Islands, which put them "within a stone's throw" of the Japanese headquarters, about 240km of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.

It was not long after that the division was disbanded and half of them were sent to the Middle East.

Bodley said he spent time in Egypt before going on to Italy where some of the country was beautiful but "southern Italy was a pigsty".

By 1945, he'd "had a gutsful" and came home to New Zealand.

Bonny, then 94, with Richard Short, now Dannevirke RSA president, during a remembrance service. Photo / NZME

On his return, he joined the Dannevirke Returned Services Association and in those days they were "pretty lively" with everyone looking after each other.

He believed all of those who joined with him were now gone.

"It's the loneliest part of my life," he admits.

Now a resident of Rahiri Care Home, he can't get around as well as he used to, but he still keeps his mind active by listening to music or watching sport, generally continuing to do the things he loves doing.

Bonny celebrated his birthday with a gathering at the Dannevirke Services and Citizens Club and with a morning tea at Rahiri.