"We give up one morning of our lives to honour those who gave up every morning for the rest of their lives."
Those were some of the words spoken by guest speaker Ngahi Bidois at this morning's Anzac Day dawn service at Muruika War Cemetery in Ohinemutu.
A beautifully bright and mild morning helped swell the numbers of people who attended the special service on the shores of Lake Rotorua with the crowd of more than 2000 people stretching back to the entrance of Tamatekapua Marae.
One hundred and two years after the landing of Anzac and Allied troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, Rotorua remembered all those who laid down their lives in service of their country.
Earlier in the morning, war veterans marched onto the site, led by parade commander Te Kei Merito and the City of Rotorua Highland Pipe Band, before Te Arawa Returned Services League president Bryce Morrison began proceedings.
Joining the official party, that included Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick, local MPs and Australian Army representative Major Craig Mann, was the last remaining member of the famed Maori Battalion's B Company, Robert "Bomb" Gillies.
Mr Bidois said his father Tommy served in Malaya as part of 1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry and his grandfather, Pakau Tanirau, lost his life in Tunisia while serving with the Maori Battalion's B Company but said, unlike some of his whanau, he was not cut out for military life.
He also paid tribute to the thousands of Turkish soldiers who died defending their country.
"When we look at the Ottoman, who were the tangata whenua of the land we were trying to occupy, the Gallipoli victory was considered to be one of the great victories of war for them and led to their independence and the formation of the Republic of Turkey.
"They lost many sons and daughters defending their tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty) during that campaign, but it led to the birth of their nation.
"The Gallipoli campaign also marked the birth of something new for New Zealand and Australia, that being a new national consciousness and we became aware of who we were on the world stage ... as two young nations came of age."
After his speech, Rotorua's Ken Douglas played The Last Post and Reveille before the laying of wreaths at the cenotaph.
The Anzac Day Civic Service, that began at 9.30am in the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre, featured Leith Comer as guest speaker.