Oldest Anzac the longest wed

He has written himself into the record books as the oldest surviving Anzac soldier.

Now the family of Peter Casserly, Australia's oldest living World War I veteran, say he is owed another record.

Mr Casserly and his wife, Monica, had been married for 80 years and nine months when Mrs Casserly died last August. The length of their union surpassed the 80-year world record.

British couple Percy and Florence Arrowsmith, who officially hold the record for the longest marriage, celebrated their 80th anniversary last week.

But Peter jnr, the Casserlys' oldest son, has no wish to "put a damper on anyone's joyful moment".

"I don't want to claim the record or anything like that. But it is a fact that my mother and father were married 80 years in November 2003. And I'm 81 to prove it."

The Casserlys met after the war and married in Bunbury, Australia, in 1923.

"They looked after each other," said Mr Casserly jnr. "They lived a normal, simple life. My mother and father were not well educated. They married in the Depression years and had a humble beginning. But from there on they managed to get by and lived a happy life."

For a while the couple ran a fish'n'chip shop, with Mr Casserly handling the day-to-day work and Mrs Casserly doing the books. Later he became a lobster fisher. They had two sons and six grandchildren.

Mr Casserly is one of only three remaining Australasian survivors of World War I. The veteran sapper sat in his wheelchair at the head of the Anzac Day parade through Perth this year.

"My father is still going - he's in a nursing home and is 107," said his son.