This week the Examiner caught up with three of the five WWII veterans living in Opal Raymond Terrace Gardens.

Patricia Mason was a stenographer with the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during WWII, Bob Anson is one of the very few Rats of Tobruk alive and Ron Farley served at Shaggy Ridge in Papua New Guinea.

Not able to speak with the Examiner due to illness were Mick Collins and Joyce Bright.

Ms Mason said she was "extremely proud" to have been a WAAAF.

"I loved my work and reached the position of sergeant before the war ended and I was demobilised in 1946," she said.

Ms Mason enlisted in April 1942 just before her 19th birthday.

After her training near Mittagong, she was posted to a medical station where she remained until 1946.

Mr Farley, who has dementia, was born in Seaham and lived near the area for most of his life.

He enlisted in the army on February 3, 1942, and, as a member of the 2/16th Battalion, spent some time at Shaggy Ridge.

The ridge was the site of major Japanese defensive positions amid terrain that was difficult to navigate.

"The only thing he ever said was the terrain was really, really steep," son Kerry said.

Mr Farley was discharged in October 1944 and came home with malaria.

He lived in Wallalong and worked at Nelsons Plains, Tomago and Hexham until he retired.

When WWII broke out, Mr Anson and his three brothers enlisted.

Mr Anson belonged to the 2/17th Battalion and was part of the eight-month siege of Tobruk in 1941.

"We were trying to get out for eight months while the Germans were trying to get in for eight months," Mr Anson joked.

He also served in PNG and contracted dengue fever. He was sent to The Tablelands to recover then sent to Townsville.

He was discharged in March 1945.

He is one of only 16 Rats of Tobruk left in the state, he said.