Some of New Zealand's very last surviving World War Two veterans flew to Greece today to mark the 70th anniversary of the battle for Crete.

Nearly 8000 New Zealanders were on the island of Crete when the battle broke out in 1941, after Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion.

More than 2000 Kiwi soldiers were taken prisoner and 671 died during the 12-day battle.

Bill Bristow, 92, was one of the Kiwi soldiers who were captured. But after one month of imprisonment he managed to escape.

"We pinched the boat, a whole gang of us, [and] we sailed back to Egypt. We got bombed by the RAF and we got bombed by the Gerrys, and we got strafe by the Gerrys, but we beat the whole damn lot of 'em and we got there," he told ONE News....