From the May 7th Sydney Morning Herald.
When asked how he attained such longevity, Mr. Choule replied, "Don't die." Definitely worthy of a Yogi Berra quote. No wonder he was nicknamed "Chuckles."
Mr. Choules did not even own a car until he was 50 and he bicycled everywhere before that. According to the Herald, his brothers served in the British Army. I have also read that they were in the Australian Army. Either way, they served at the disaster at Gallipoli and the Western Front. Brother Douglas was gassed and died a year later.
Dropping out of school at age 14, Choules lied about his age and joined the British Navy in 1915 where he received his initial training on the HMS Impregnable which was once a square-rugged 140 gun ship-of-the-line.
He also was in the military during World War II, this time for Australia. Besides being chief demolition officer for German mines, in 1942, with Japanese attack imminent on the port of , he was put in charge of preparing harbor facilities and oil tanks for destruction. He also planned to destroy any ships that couldn't escape with depth charges.
For three months during the Australian summer of 1943-1944, he was on the patrol vessel Kingbay to clear Broome Harbor of flying boat wrecks. Fifteen aircraft there being used to evacuate Dutch refugees were destroyed during a Japanese attack in March 1942 with heavy loss of life.
Quite a Man. --Cooter
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