Jim Easton pictured on Christmas Day in 1945. Photo \/ Ryman Healthcare<\/p>\n
When he was released from the prison camp, weighing 47kg, medics told him the years of ill-treatment would likely knock at least 10 years off his life.<\/p>\n
Many of Easton\u2019s friends suffered nightmares but he managed to develop a clever technique to prevent them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I felt one coming on, I\u2019d dream of nude women. That took it away immediately,\u201d he told the Herald after his 106th birthday.<\/p>\n
Easton\u2019s funeral is set to be held on Monday in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank.<\/p>\n
Among those in attendance will be the Major General of the Australian Army, Matthew Hall, and possibly representatives from the New Zealand Defence Force.<\/p>\n
Ryman Healthcare general manager of operations Karyn Nobilo told the Herald it was an honour for the Grace Joel Retirement Village team to be involved in Easton\u2019s care over the past six years.<\/p>\n
\u201cJim was a truly unique individual who never let his incredibly difficult experience during the war dull his enthusiasm for life, his sense of humour or his willpower,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a very special member of the village who brought much character and warmth, and the team will feel his absence deeply.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all very proud to have played a part in looking after him in his later life.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2022, Easton was believed to be the first New Zealander to receive a birthday card from two monarchs: one from King Charles III for his 106th, and one from Queen Elizabeth II for his 100th.<\/p>\n
Easton credited his longevity to never smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol.<\/p>\n
James “Jim” Easton is believed to be the first Kiwi to receive a birthday card from two different monarchs. Photo \/ Ryman Healthcare<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was 12 years old I would walk past the pub at 3pm and see all the miners walking in, and half an hour later I would walk back past and they would be out the front beating the daylights out of each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a child, I always said, \u2018when I grow up I\u2019m not going into those places\u2019, and I never have.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd here I am now, Jimmy\u2019s the king of the world,\u201d he said with his customary sense of humour.<\/p>\n
The Scottish national spent his formative years in New South Wales, Australia, and joined the Australian Army at the age of 23, where he was a signalman in the 8th Division Signals regiment.<\/p>\n
After returning to New Zealand in 1947, Easton had an idea to \u201cgo into show business\u201d \u2013 joining the touring fairgrounds that would travel around the country, which started a 65-year career. He retired in his mid-90s.<\/p>\n
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Easton pictured on Christmas Day in 1945. Photo \/ Ryman Healthcare When he was released from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[39363,18919,6179,7126,39362,2740,14054,16081,5158,117,111,43,139,69,1118,34962,20937,6149,2963],"class_list":["post-44414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-39363","tag-aged","tag-died","tag-dies","tag-easton","tag-former","tag-james","tag-jim","tag-man","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-oldest","tag-prisoner","tag-war","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}