Wakefield war hero who was stationed in the Middle East, East Asia and Germany celebrates 102nd birthday

This year’s celebration was quieter than normal, with Mr Longley and his wife Hazel holding a bigger party for his 100th birthday in 2020 and his 101st birthday last year.

Mr Longley was born in Lofthouse in 1920 as one of eleven siblings where he went to school locally before joining the military during World War Two in 1940.

He said: “I volunteered for the Army when I was 19 in 1940. I joined the 70th Young Soldiers West Yorkshire Regiment where I went on a six-week mechanic course.

" A few weeks later, I found myself in Palestine now Israel. I stayed in Palestine and later Egypt for six years as a motor mechanic and a tester during the war.”

In 1946, Mr Longley came home and was “demobbed” but couldn’t settle and so he re-joined the Army in February 1948.

A month later he was back in Palestine to help with the withdrawal of British troops in the region before being deployed to Japan and Korea during the Korean War of 1950 to 1953.

Speaking about his time in the military, Mr Longley said: “I enjoyed my time in the Army. We had plenty of free time and played plenty of sport.

"I was a very keen cricketer, I used to play football, rugby and I even had a go at baseball. It was very good indeed.

"I enjoyed my time in the Forces, but I’ve also had a very good married life because I had an excellent wife.”

In February 1954, Dennis and Hazel, 92, who was a nurse, got married in a ceremony in Leeds and they had their only son, Richard soon after whilst they were living in Germany whilst working in the Army.

When he left the Forces for good, Mr Longley worked as a fire officer at the Copperworks.

The couple have travelled all over the world. They have been to Petra in Jordan, Hiroshima in Japan and visited Malta and Gibraltar among other European countries.

For a while, they had an apartment in France where they would visit their son and grandson Olivier and had a caravan which they would drive across the British Isles.

Their favourite destination, however, was Benidorm in Spain.

Mr Longley added: “Benidorm was my favourite because it was just far enough to fly and everything was there.

"The sunshine was there, the seafront was there, It had British and different foods, it was first class.”

Dennis and Hazel only gave up their driving licences 12 years ago, at the respective ages of 90 and 80, after Mr Longley started to develop problems with his eyesight.

He said his secret to a long life was through being active and enjoying sport, and only drinking whisky in his tea with breakfast every morning. He had also stopped smoking cigarettes in his very early 20s.

The couple which have been married for over 68 years live in their home in Outwood which they bought from new in the late 1950s.