A WIRRAL man has celebrated his 100th birthday.

Major William Hunter, originally from Scotland, turned 100 at a celebration with family and friends at Grove House care home in Claughton.

He was also given a special telegram from the Queen.

Born on January 13, 1918, William was born in the year that saw the end of WWI and women over the age of 30 were given the right to vote.

Early on in his life Bill, like many young men, joined the army.

His artillery battery was posted to West Bay in Dorset to counter the threatened invasion by Germany in WWII.

Equipped with WWI guns - which they weren’t allowed to fire in case they blew up, Bill and his gunners waited on Dorset’s cliffs.

Upon returning home to Scotland, William was seriously injured after trying to rescue one of his gunners from a burning ammunition lorry.

After receiving a telegram home, his family did not expect him to pull through but after a year in hospital, William recovered and then volunteered to be a glider pilot but his eyesight was not strong enough for him to be able to fly.

Instead he returned to the war and was sent to India to be commissioned into the Indian Army, fighting the Japanese as a troop commander and forward observation officer with the 5th Indian Field Regiment.

He continued fighting through Burma and then into Malaya where he was present at the Japanese surrender in Singapore on February 15, 1942.

Moving on to be a commandant of a prisoner of war camp at Johore Bahru, William was sent to Java to rescue Dutch civilians.

After some time as an adjutant of 22 Field Regiment, William achieved his para wings and was posted to 87 Airborne Field Regiment before returning to the UK as an acting Major and joined the 66 Airborne Field Regiment.

He returned home to join his brother Tom in his hotel business but missed the military life and rejoined the army in 1952.

Two years later William married the love of his life Janet and has one son Thomas and stepson Bob and is grandfather to Holly.