A strong Wanganui connection with Gallipoli was reinforced on Anzac Day when Lieutenant Colonel Rose King of the New Zealand Army was master of ceremonies at this year's commemoration at Anzac Cove.
Colonel King's Wanganui family ties to Gallipoli include the loss of a young army private during the campaign itself.
Her great uncle, Private James Daniel Dillion, who served with the Otago Infantry Battalion, died at Gallipoli on August 6, 1915. His name is etched on the Chunuk Bair Memorial.
"In 2000 I was serving with the United Nations in Croatia and a number of us went to Gallipoli to watch the Anzac commemorative services," Colonel King - nee Rose Dillon - said.
"At Chunuk Bair I saw Private James Dillion and I wondered if he could be a relative.
"When I got back to New Zealand I started researching who James Dillion was, and I found out he was my great uncle. With that knowledge, returning here has changed my experience in Gallipoli - it has been emotional and I have shed a few tears."
The military is in Colonel King's blood - her grandfather served in World War I and was wounded at the Battle of Messines in 1917.
Linton-based Colonel King is the first woman to have the honour of being master of ceremonies at the Gallipoli commemorations and it was the first time a married couple have both had the honour of leading the proceedings - her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Glen King, was MC in 2010.
"It was a great honour to represent my country, the New Zealand Defence Force and my family in what I believe is the most important military commemorative event for New Zealand," she said. "Anzac Day is what we associate as the birth of our nation and what we have built our foundations on.
"As I walked to the stage I focused my efforts on wanting to honour the memory of every soldier who had fought and fallen at Gallipoli. It allowed me to keep my emotions in check."
Just before Anzac Day, she and other Defence Force members visited many of the cemeteries and sites where New Zealand soldiers had died.
To get a small appreciation of the terrain the Anzacs had to fight through, the team walked from Outpost 2, close to where they landed on the beaches, to the top of Chunuk Bair.
"It wasn't an easy climb and was up and down and took us about an hour and a half. What the walk did though was make real for me - the sheer loss and waste of life by everyone here, Kiwis, Aussies and Turks."
"This time coming back as a mum I could only think of the hurt and pain the families of the fallen had to live with and it made me incredibly sad."
One observation she made was that the birds were singing at the cemeteries the Kiwis visited. "It felt as though there was peace here and that those who had fallen know they are remembered and have not been forgotten."
Colonel King wore both her own medals and her great uncle Private Dillon's replica medals while she performed her duties at the dawn service. "Having the privilege to be here at Gallipoli and be involved in the ceremony is something I will always remember - and that is why we were there, to remember."