I have attended Anzac Day Parades every year since a child and marched alongside the RSA as a Volunteer Fire Fighter for the last 23 years. Last year (2017) I found out that my own Great Grandfather gave his life exactly one hundred years ago. This year I will wear replicas of his medals with pride and sadness for the life he lost and the lives who changed so profoudly after his death. Lest we forget

My Grandfather left his farm, wife and five children, the youngest (my mother) only 6 years old. He didn't need to go but did with ongoing suffering when he died for his family. Added to this, his wife died just 6 years later leaving an orphaned family. The collateral damage of war is far reaching, further than the theatre of war. I find it hard to understand, in this day and age, the draw of duty to King and country beyond that of family.but we live in another age. I would love to have known my grandfather, but war took him too soon.