(Transcript from World News Radio)
Australia's oldest Karen World War Two veteran is preparing to march in his sixth Anzac Day parade.
Bordy Weeku will be wearing the medals that he smuggled out of Burma and kept hidden for two decades in a refugee camp.
Abby Dinham reports.
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It's been 70 years since Bordy Weeku played the bugle, but he still remembers the tunes.
Former Lance Corporal Weeku enlisted in the army in 1937 in Burma, to fight with the British forces.
For years he was a bugler, and towards the end of the conflict he served as a guard over the Japanese prisoners of war.
But, as his son Et Too Saw Weeku translates, as a soldier he subdued the enemy with words, instead of weapons.
"They didn't give him any trouble, because he teach them like politely yes."
Since 2009, Bordy Weeku has marched in Anzac commemorations in Werribee, south-west of Melbourne, and twice he's attended the dawn service in the city.
He estimates his age at about 95, but friends say he's closer to 97.
Victoria police Multicultural Liaison Officer Richard Dove says Bordy is a source a pride for the 10,000-strong Karen community in Australia.
"He's one of if not the oldest living Karen person in Australia and he's representing the whole of the community for Anzac Day and that makes him a hero, and the things that he's done have made him a hero."
He was awarded medals for bravery from the British.
But Bordy Weeku faced persecution from the Burmese in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Richard Dove says many of the ethnic-minority Karen were forced to flee.
"There was a belief amongst the Karen that they were going to get their own state, and they didn't and the people that they were fighting against at that time were given the keys. And ever since then it's been a battle for them to survive."
Bordy fled to a refugee camp on the Thai border taking only his children, a picture of his departed wife and his military decorations.
The medals are his the only proof of service to the Allied forces during the Second World War.
He resisted urgings from other refugees to sell the medals to collectors, instead he kept them hidden under his pillow at the refugee camp for almost 20 years.
Now, his son Et Too Saw says, he wears them with pride on Anzac Day.
"He often told me to keep it safe. He has to keep his medals and he's very proud to be a British soldier."
Bordy can recite his regimental number and the names of his commanding officers without fault.
But with only his medals as proof of service, he doesn't qualify for the pension subclass that provides for some international Allied veterans who now reside in Australia.
Eligibility for the benefits is complex, and ultimately the Department of Veterans Affairs states that "each nation should bear the responsibility for providing compensation to former members of its own forces, irrespective of where they later choose to reside."
President of the Werribee Returned and Services League Daryl Ryan says it's an unfortunate circumstance, but there's only so much that can be done with limited resources.
"Where do you draw the line? We've got so many British out here, Canadians, New Zealanders, so where do you draw the line? We're struggling as an RSL to even make sure the Australian ex-service personnel are looked after by DVA. And that's a heck of a struggle trying to look after the fellows coming back now from Afghanistan."
Bordy's family and friends are just happy his good health continues.
Close friend and fellow Karen refugee Charles Sandu expects Bordy to out live them all.
"Much better than me, he's older than me by 20 years... Old soldiers never die hahaha."
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