As this year marks the ROC's 100th anniversary, a former military officer Yeh Yen-shen is also celebrating his 100th birthday with the country.

Mr. Yeh used to be a director at the Air Force during the Second World War, and had worked for the former president Chiang Kai-shek as an English interpreter for years. Here on CTS, let's have a look at his life experiences which are so closely connected to the history of the ROC.

Yeh Yen-shen shares a birth year with the Republic of China, and is likely Taiwan's oldest civic organization chairman.

A graduate of Jiangnan's University of Nanking, he was one of the first members of China's Navy to study abroad.

Yeh Yen-shen is a descendant of General Yeh Tzu-gui, and his father, Yeh Ko-yu, was also a Navy commander.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, his two younger brothers served as the commanders of a tank squadron and an artillery squadron.

Serving under General Sun Li-jen as a consultant to U.S. forces and communications officer, Yeh arrived in Taiwan in 1948.

Due to his lineage and language abilities, President Chiang Kai-shek retained Yeh Yeh-shen as his English interpreter after he retired from the military.

Yeh says that Madame Chiang Kai-shek loved to offer chocolate to guests, and that the president and first lady had very different personalities.

When asked whether he has any regrets, Yeh said that regrets are inevitable because life is never perfect.

The humorous, open-minded Yeh further said that more and more people are choosing to stay single, and joked that he made the right choice to remain a bachelor.

On his 100th birthday, he said that a comfortable, natural life is his only secret for health and long living.