105-Year-Old WWII Vet ‘Surprised and Amazed’ by Flood of Birthday Cards, Shares Secret to Long Life

Staff Sergeant Ernest “Ernie” Horsfall from Preston in Lancashire, England, is an extraordinary man. On Friday, he turned 105 — but that isn’t the only astounding feat he has accomplished.

He served in WWII with the Army Ordnance Corps and then the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. He was in London, alongside Allied forces in North Africa, and working on Allied forces’ tanks in Italy.

“There would be swarms of Nazi bombers flying overhead all night, and I knew many people that were injured or worse,” he told SWNS, according to Fox News.

“On one occasion, our guard room was hit and six of my pals were killed. I was just lucky it wasn’t my duty that night.”

At age 43, he learned how to fly planes, which he continued to do in a professional capacity until he hit age 93 and was told he could no longer be insured as a pilot. So he continued his work with aircraft by focusing on maintenance instead until he turned 101.

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On the more personal front, Horsfall was married for an impressive 57 years, but since then, his wife, sister, and sole son have all died.

Now at 105, he has a girlfriend in Iceland, and she’s almost half his age at 63 years old.

Horsfall maintains that through it all, his positive outlook on life is what has kept him buoyant.