Peter Cranson has played the Last Post at Anzac Day commemorative services for more than five decades, including since he and his wife moved to Tauranga in 2000.
The 69-year-old said has been playing the cornet and trumpet for 60 years.
"I first played the Last Post in Palmerston North square in 1960, then in Hamilton, and since moving to Tauranga in 2000, I have played at every dawn parade at the Tauranga RSA cenotaph and at the civic services, he said.
"I always find the experience a moving occasion. It's a time I think about my father-in-law who served as a gunner for four years in the Middle East during the Battle of El Alamein, and came home wounded and shattered," he said.
Mr Cranson said his father-in-law Private Gunner Beresford Primrose headed overseas
in 1939 at age 29, and returned home in 1943 with serious shrapnel wounds to his legs.
"He died in 1977 from leukaemia, a suspected consequence of his war service," he said.
Mr Cranson said he also thinks about his mother's brother Gordon Hawes whose war service as a gunner in the Middle East was cut short after being shot in the head.
His uncle was sent home but died at age 30, he said.
"This year I am playing at six venues included a number leading up to Anzac Day, and I also play the Last Post at the funerals of RSA veterans," he said.
"I feel it is a really spiritual experience for lots of people especially in the minute silence after the Last Post when they stand and reflect on their own family members."
Mr Cranson said when he played the Last Post and thought about those who have died in the war and gone before us, he also gets "quite emotional".
"Each time I play it I dedicate it to all the soldiers who went to war and fought for this country so we are able to live in freedom."
"I treat this honour as a very serious thing. It's a privilege to be able to do this. I have to play the Last Post right, the notes must be pitch perfect," he said.
Mr Cranson said he gets a "real buzz" especially when the new generation of Anzac Day service attendees,come up to him and compliment his playing.
His wife Barbara said that she was proud of her husband's dedication.
"It still gives me goosies when I hear Peter play. It's not just a series of notes for him, he feels it deeply in his heart," she said.