A Pershore man will celebrate his 100th birthday tomorrow and receive a telegram from the Queen.

Bill Edwards, a resident at Stonebow House care home, said his secret to a long life is “good food and a tot of whiskey each night.”

Mr Edwards grew up in the Black Country until he was called up for national service during the Second World War.

He enlisted in to the RAF in his early 20s, training as a mechanic.

Mr Edwards was drafted to Canada shortly after his enlistment and said: “We were issued with a jungle hat - certainly not suitable for Canada so we had those took of us as soon as we arrived.

During Mr Edwards’ time off, he visited Hudson Bay in the far north of the country , near to where he was stationed in Battleford, Saskatchewan

“I remember encountering a grizzly bear but we didn’t make a fuss so it just wandered off,” Mr Edwards added.

Towards the end of the Second World War, he was part of the draft for the 10th Bomber Squadron, USA but he never made it to Okinawa, Japan.

Mr Edwards said: “The Americans pulled a fast one by dropping the atom bomb and that ended the war.”

However, tragedy struck closer to home.

His brother, Hayden, a member of the RAF Regiment, was killed at the Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy.

Mr Edwards met his wife, Phillis on VE Day 1945. The couple went on to have one child, 71-year-old Carol.

Mrs Edwards passed away in 2014.

He found work after the war at GKN, as an engineer on crank shafts, retiring in 1977.

“When I look through the old photos from my younger days, it’s like they are still with me when I run by finger across each of them,” Mr Edwards added.

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