After the war, Mr. Choules moved to Australia and was seconded to the Royal Australian Navy in 1926. As acting torpedo officer at Freemantle in Western Australia, he disposed of the first German mine to wash up on Australian soil. He also was tasked with preparing explosives to sink the Australian fleet in Freemantle Harbor in the event of Japanese capture of that place.
Choules remained in the navy after the war for awhile and finished his working career in the cray fishing industry at Safety Bay, south of Perth.
He was married for 80 years to Ethel, who died at age 98.
As other World War veterans died off, his friends urged him to write his autobiography, which he did. The "Last of the Last" published in 2009, made him the world's oldest first-time published author at age 108.
The Last of a Great Generation. --Cooter
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