The oldest Second World War veteran at the national Remembrance Sunday parade was nicknamed “Lucky” during the war and had never been to the Cenotaph before.

Jeffrey Brereton, 105, was a Royal Air Force mechanic in the Second World War, before leaving the army to join the fire service in 1946.

He volunteered for the RAF aged 19, servicing Hurricane aircraft during the battle of Britain, and on Sunday at the national ceremony in Whitehall, London, he was the oldest veteran present.

Afterwards, Mr Brereton told reporters that he had volunteered for the RAF because he “wanted to do a bit more” and has always “fancied himself” a mechanic.

The centurion said: “My brother had been conscripted into the army, and my father was a volunteer in the First World War.

“I just wanted to do something better than when I was back at home.”

He explained: “I always fancied myself as a mechanic helping the pilots on fighter aircraft and the opportunity came.”

Asked why he wanted to be a mechanic, Mr Brereton said he was a “keen cyclist” before saying with a smile “I thought I would like to step up a little more”.

Mr Brereton added: “I didn’t have any basic training at all with the RAF; it was just straight in.”

The 105-year-old said he was posted with the 605 Royal Auxiliary Squadron during the Battle of Britain in 1940, and that he was thinking about his squadron during the ceremony.

“I wanted to commemorate our members.

“You see, up till now, I’ve always gone to the local cenotaph,” he said.

Mr Brereton, of Staffordshire, told reporters that the fact he was “lucky” had driven him to do “challenging work” throughout his life.

“I considered myself lucky all my life.

“In fact, I was nicknamed Lucky by my compatriots in the Royal Air Force because I’d been on 10 postings overseas,” he said.

The veteran said he served in the North African campaign, and in Italy, Greece, Russia, Canada and the US.

The “challenging work” he referred to came first in the RAF, then the fire service, and also the 61 years of volunteer work for charities like the RSPCA and the Firefighters Charity.

Mr Brereton said: “To me, one of the most wonderful things I’ve had since I came out of the Royal Air Force is my charitable work and I recommend it to anyone who is retiring and so forth.

“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to help people less fortunate than ourselves.

“That’s the way I see it.”

He added with pride that his grandson is following in his footsteps as a firefighter.

Mr Brereton, who has been the president of his local RAF Association for 42 years, added that he had “enjoyed” the day.

“I’m only here now because of my family. They’ve arranged it all. I couldn’t have done it. They’ve arranged it all for me,” he said.

Other centurion veterans present at the event for the first time were 103-year-old Annie Duplock, who was part of the Women’s Land Army, and Paul Clark, 100, who trained as a war photographer.

Ms Duplock joined the Land Army in 1940, aged 16, having lied about her age to enrol.

Based at a farm in Leicestershire for four years, she worked long days milking cows, ploughing fields and harvesting crops, helping to feed the nation during the Second World War.

After the march, she said she was “here to represent all the land girls” and added that it was “hard to explain” how the ceremony had felt.

Mr Clark joked that “it may be his last” chance to come to the Remembrance Day ceremony because he turned 100 in July.

He was one of the last war photographers to be trained at Pinewood Studios, but by the time he was qualified, the war was over.

Mr Clark said he was here to remember the units of photographers and filmmakers who documented the “horrors” of the Second World War.

“They were unarmed, and their only measure of protection was a First World War steel helmet,” he said.