Ralph Adrian (front), Ivan (Bonnie) Bodley (left), Tom Collier and Ernie Walker; part of the record 1200 crowd who turned out for Dannevirke's dawn service.
Ralph Adrian (front), Ivan (Bonnie) Bodley (left), Tom Collier and Ernie Walker; part of the record 1200 crowd who turned out for Dannevirke's dawn service.
For World War II veteran Ivan (Bonnie) Bodley, 95, the record crowd at Dannevirke's Anzac Day dawn service warmed the cockles of his heart on a very chilly morning.
Mr Bodley has attended every dawn service since he came back from World War II, all except one in Dannevirke.
Dannevirke Brass Band conductor Neil Williams plays the Last Post at the dawn service on Saturday behind the 530 white crosses in the Field of Remembrance at the Cenotaph.
"Iwas in London for one dawn service but there weren't as many people there as here this morning," he said.
Vietnam veteran and vice-president of the RSA, Paddy Driver, was overwhelmed as 1200 people packed into the area around the Cenotaph for the 5.45am start.
Jenny and John Read, with Nakitia the donkey in the Anzac Day parade remembering the heroic efforts of Jack Simpson Kirkpatrick.
RSA member Ralph Adrian shared similar sentiments, "awesome."
In previous years Dannevirke's dawn services have drawn crowds of between 80 and 200, but this year they came in record numbers, the attendance the same as for the 9am civic service.
"We are the lucky ones," RSA president Roly Ellis said.
Soldiers from the New Zealand Army fired ceremonial salutes at both the dawn and civic services in Dannevirke.
"As we stand here at dawn we remember all those who have gone before, the 238 servicemen and women who left Dannevirke and are buried in foreign fields."
The Dannevirke High School Anzac choir sang Lest we Forget, a lone highland piper played the Lament of the Flowers of the Forest, members of the New Zealand Army fired a volley of ceremonial shots and Neil Williams played the Last Post, making for an emotional dawn service, Dannevirke's Natalie Raynel said.
Dannevirke's Dennis Wakely wearing his father's World War II medals, with his mother Beatrice (Betty) Erica Wakely (Regiment No811713), 97.
Natalie, like many others at the service, was brushing away the tears as dawn broke and for old soldiers Bonnie Bodley and Tom Collier, the turnout and emotions shown were reassurance the community would continue to remember.
For guest speaker at the civic service, Dannevirke's Colonel Paul Curry of the Royal New Zealand Engineers, the son of Margaret and Kevin Curry, the day was about remembering all service personnel, the dead and the living.
"They were young New Zealanders denied a life, love and family," he said.
"We can but try to imagine the scene at Gallipoli 100 years ago today where chaos reigned. Many died frightened and alone among upturned boats, with dead men littering the beach. Today we don't commemorate war, but the triumph of the human spirit. The Anzac spirit is part of our nation.
"Strength, courage and commitment and supporting your mate when he needs it. That's what being an Anzac is. The easy life we live [today] was paid for by the lives of our ancestors."
