Bega's final WW2 veteran Dr Paul Windle given medallion for naval service

Moments earlier, the Bega RSL Sub-branch had given the 97-year-old a special commemorative medallion, which was to be gifted to every living WW2 veteran to thank them for their service.

"I was surprised because it came out of the blue, and I must say it's a pleasant surprise. I've been the only surviving [person] from World War II in Bega for a year or two. When I go there'll be nobody left," he said.

In February 1945, when he was 18, a young Paul joined the Australian Royal Navy (RAN), choosing the service due to his love of sailing his 12 foot skiff on Sydney's Lane Cove River.

He trained at HMAS Cerberus, Flinders Naval Depot, and the primary training establishment for RAN personnel, until the "Germans retired".

The five foot eight, brown haired and hazel eyed, able seaman then relocated to HMAS Rushcutter; a base which served as a depot, fleet launches, Anti-Submarine School, and the Radar and Gunnery Instruction School.

Paul was learning how to become a submarine detector which required him to use a secret device for locating submerged submarines using sound waves, equivalent to today's sonar.

"They had some of our submarines out there to play with us and practice with, never dropped any depth charges, was only just looking. I was prepared to go into action," he said.

"I did submarine detecting and I was doing that course when they dropped the bomb [on Hiroshima and Nagasaki]."

Japan's surrender followed and the war came to an end.

"After the Navy, I got the repatriation to do dentistry, so now I'm Dr Paul Windle BDS, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, and OAM, Order of Australia Medal," he said with a smile, the pin of his award for service to the community gleamed on his lapel.

In 1954, Dr Windle moved to Bega when he found a dental surgery available on the NSW Far South Coast, "so I decided to buy the partnership on Carp Street", and said once he moved down he became best friends with an opposition dentist named Ted Chapman.

"He was a nice fellow and I hope I was too, we used to go fishing together, and I knew his wife before she ever came down to Bega. I used to go with his wife's cousin, she used to write to me during the war," he recalled.

Dr Paul Fairbrother Windle married Audrey Mary Darlow and were together for 65 years until her passing in 2019. They had three children.

Her photograph, on a book about her life, smiled towards him as he rested on his oversized leather chair, before he uttered, "I met her over at Lane Cove. A friend of mine took her to a local dance once, and took another girl to the next dance, so I hopped in."

"We never had any disagreements, and I miss her terribly. I was very comfortable when she was around, even if she wasn't in the same house, I felt better when she was there.

"The older she got, the more beautiful she got."