sons with Monica - Edward who died before him,
and Peter junior. Mr Casserly also had seven grandchildren and 11
great grandchildren.

Peter junior said his father was more of a friend than a dad. He
joined his father in the bush cutting firewood when he was 14.

A state funeral will be held at St Patrick's Basilica in
Fremantle next week.

"I would rather have done it my way just at the local church Our
Lady of Fatima around the corner," Peter junior said.

"But the Government are insisting on it. My father was a plain
man and would not have wanted all that fuss."

His father attributed his longevity to rum.

"They gave every soldier two issues of rum each day on the
Western Front, but I knew my way around and used to get three," he
said. "And I'vebeen drinking rum ever since."

The old man also loved to sing. Even towards the end of his
life, he entertained visitors with songs brought back from the
trenches more than 85 years earlier.

Mr Casserly's death left one sailor from World War I, W. Evan
Allan, 105, of Melbourne, along with John Ross, 105, of Bendigo,
who enlisted but never left Australia.