The spirit of remembrance will be stirring at the heart of Mount Maunganui’s Arvida Ocean Shores Village on ANZAC Day, as 99-year-old World War 2 veteran Betty Percy leads a column of fellow residents into an 11am service at the village.

With her New Zealand flag fluttering proudly aloft, and wearing her army uniform and medals, Betty will lead an Anzac Day procession unlike most others, not on foot, but on her trusty scooter.

Her daughter Jennifer Goldsack, who lives in Auckland, says Betty is the only person living at the village who served in the Second World War, working in the NZ home guard as a truck driver.

“Apparently I am the oldest one left,” says Betty. “And the only one left. The others all died during the year and they left me with the flag.”

She hasn’t had the honour of carrying it before, and only became aware of her special role one day earlier.

Betty Percy. Photo: Supplied.

Arvida Ocean Shores Village Manager Clare Eccles says Betty is one of 18 returned service people in the Mount Maunganui Living Well Community and she’s the only one who served in WW2.

Betty plans to wear her army uniform for the service, although when donning it for a photograph with SunLive’s photographer Bob Tulloch on Wednesday, commented that she’s too small for it now.

“I didn’t know I’d lost weight until I put this on. It hangs around me, it used to fit nicely.”

Pinned to her uniform are two medals from World War 2, inscribed on the back with ‘For Service to New Zealand 1939 – 1945’.

Betty Percy's marching team. Photo: Supplied.

Betty started working for the NZ Army when she was 17, but had to wait until she was 18 before she could officially join up. Prior to that she had been doing herd testing on many farms in the South Island.

“I wasn’t old enough to join the army, but I was old enough to do herd testing. As I was too young to join, they gave me six weeks in the office. When I got to the right age, as soon as I was able to, I joined.”

The 18-year-old went straight to Napier where she got her uniforms.

“I worked in the Napier army office and also doing truck driving.”

She says when she drove the army trucks she had to sit on two cushions to be able to see out over the steering wheel.

“I was supposed to be in the marching, but I was the only girl there, they were all men. So they decided to just use me occasionally and the rest of the time I was keeping the records of where they were going.

“I would go and march and in between times would keep the records. I didn’t do any of the hard work.”

Betty Percy and her husband. Photo: Supplied.

She says after getting married to her husband Blake Cranston, they went to Auckland.

“I was supposed to stay in the office but they got me a special discharge as I was pregnant,” says Betty.

Her daughter Jennifer says older brother Gary was on the way.

“Mum was released from the army and instead of Dad going overseas he opted for 'shore service', and chose lighthouse keeping,” says Jennifer.

“Their first post was to Centre Island in the Foveaux Strait, then to Tiritiri Matangi in the Hauraki Gulf, then Pungarehu in Taranaki.”

Betty Percy and her husband. Photo: Supplied.

This year she turns 100 on September 6, having been born on that day in 1924. She says the secret of getting to 100 is “just living here”.

She is meaning, of course, at Arvida Ocean Shores, where she has lived for 11 years since 2012.

“I like being here, because I was allowed to have my car and would go out every day, rain or shine. I used to take my car and I’d drive it all around the North Island, and go around the South Island.”

She says she continued on driving around NZ through her 90s, up until about two years ago.

“I don’t drive the car anymore. I actually can. My doctor said I could, but he thought it’s probably not very wise because of all the extra traffic you have these days. He said it would be very difficult with all the stopping and starting all the time. So he said to me I could go, but I wouldn’t enjoy it. So I thought ‘oh well’.”

She laughs at the thought.

Betty is well known amongst staff at the Arvida Ocean Shores Village for her flawless grooming and fashion sense, as also seen evident here in her early years. Photo: Supplied.  

She says living in lighthouses meant she couldn’t always attend ANZAC Day commemorations, due to the travel distance to the closest service.

“They were too far away for me.”

When asked what she thinks people would like to know about her and her years during the war, Betty says “I don’t really think people want to know anything about me at all”.

Others would disagree, as it turns out Betty is one of the “live wires” of the village, enjoying life to the full.

“Betty is known to zip around on her scooter and always looks so stylish. She is such a lovely person in our community and it’s hard to believe she’s 99 years old,” says Clare.

The engraving on the back of one of Betty Percy's two WW2 medals. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Asked what her goal in life is, Betty smiles and says “just to keep on going”.

Her ‘keeping on going’ includes hair being perfectly coiffed thanks to the village salon, and she’s well known amongst staff for her flawless grooming and fashion sense.  

“She likes to visit local fashion stores and get her nails done too,” says Clare.

“She’s always immaculately dressed, always has coordinated clothing with matching accessories, her nails are always done, she’s really stylish.”

Betty is expecting one of her children to visit on ANZAC Day.

“The rest are all in different places. My daughter would love to come, she lives so far north. It takes her nearly a day to get here to see me.”

Betty has been married twice, with six children from the first marriage and one from the second, and sadly, three of her children have passed away.

“I really didn’t want another man after that,” says Betty.

“But I had other offers.”

She turned those marriage proposals down flat.

“Two men was enough.

“One arrived at the beginning and was waiting his turn for me to be his wife, but I wouldn’t have any of it. He moved to Australia, and when the last one died, he came back straight away, but it was a waste of time.”

Betty Percy dressed in her army uniform, taking the lift on her scooter. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

There are 36 Arvida Living Well Communities across New Zealand.

“All communities will be holding services and many have already been commemorating ANZAC Day, from a unique and local twist on an ANZAC biscuit recipe in Kerikeri to pottery poppies at a community in Bethlehem, and knitted poppies as a fundraiser for the RSA in a community in Christchurch,” says Clare.

Clare says there are 260 people living in their Arvida Ocean Shores independent living village, and every year the residents organise their own ANZAC Day service.  

“One of the most important days in our community’s social calendar is when many join together to honour our return service men and women and remember all that have served,” says Clare.

“ANZAC day starts with a parade of our return service men and women, followed by a service and an opportunity to share stories and experiences.”  

“Following that the village kitchen will put on bangers and mash,” says a staff member.

Thursday’s commemoration will hold a special significance for Betty, a poignant reminder of steadfast dedication to honour the sacrifices of her comrades and preserve the memories of the fallen.