A Burma war veteran has celebrated his 104th birthday with a special surprise party at Onchan AFC.

Marking the milestone on April 21, the Douglas resident was greeted by Onchan Silver Band playing ‘Happy Birthday’ and a guard of honour.

During the party, Mr Fenton was also presented with an official Gurkha Regiment Terai slouch hat by the Lieutenant Governor Sir John Lorimer.

Speaking to Manx Radio, Mr Fenton said: ‘I feel good at the moment, especially after reaching this age.

‘You don’t really expect it but it all depends on the person themselves and what has happened in their lives. I think one of the main things is to have good parents, and then when I married I picked a very good wife. She was brilliant and I was very sad to lose her.’

Serving as a bombardier with the 178 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, Mr Fenton was deployed to Burma at the age of 20.

He is among the last surviving members of the so-called ‘forgotten army’, whose gruelling campaign in the jungles of South-East Asia helped bring the Second World War to an end.

He documented his service on the front line through letters home, photographs and paintings.

Decades later, while clearing his parents’ house after their deaths in 1980, he discovered the letters he had sent from the front.

Those words and images were later compiled into a book, ‘The Forgotten Army’, preserving an intimate record of a young soldier’s war.

Despite his age, Mr Fenton has continued to stand with his comrades.

In 2022, at 100, he travelled to the Cenotaph in London for Remembrance Sunday, marching alongside fellow veterans to honour the fallen.

In August 2025, he also travelled to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to take part in the national service marking the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.