UNDER a quarter moon partly hidden by clouds, 12-year-old Noah Brady stood solemnly amid an estimated 2000 strong crowd encircling Wangaratta Cenotaph in the still darkness that is part of the reverence of an ANZAC Day dawn service.
While his hoodie provided warmth from the chilly 10 degree early morning embrace, the thought of young Australians landing on an unfamiliar, hostile foreign beach in the similar darkness, putting their lives in jeopardy this very morning, 110 years ago, was still enough to send a shiver up his spine.
"We're here to pay tribute to those who gave up their lives at Gallipoli....some not much older than me," he said, in the company of dad Steve, mum Shelley and brother Daniel, who religiously attend the dawn service.
They, and those they stood shoulder to shoulder with, honoured the memories of soldiers such as Private James 'Jim' Martin, born at Tocumwal, an hour from Wangaratta, who at just 14 years nine months, was Australia's youngest known ANZAC soldier killed at Gallipoli in 1915.
He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in April 1915 and landed at Gallipoli in September of the same year, dying of disease, likely enteritis, and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial.
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Among the 2000 ANZAC soldiers who lost their lives on 25 April, 1915, on the first day of the Gallipoli campaign, were former Wangaratta High School students Private Charles Powley of Boweya, aged 21, and Lance Sergeant Alfred J Collins of Stanley, aged 19, their memorials at Gallipoli 19, No 2 Outpost.
"Today is about honouring all those who have served, and continue to serve," said Mr Brady, himself an ex-Navy serviceman, whose eldest son Sean is now serving with the Navy.
"My grandfather served in the Army in WW2, and dad was in the Army Reserve in the Vietnam War...so there is a very personal connection."
At 5.57am, the silent crowd affixed its attention on Sergeant Aaron Dinsmore and members of the ADF school of health making up the catafalque party, who would stand guard until their dismount and close of service at 6.16am.
Within those 19 minutes in Wangaratta, our community, like others across Australia and abroad, stopped and observed the most poignant reflection of the sacrifices and service of so many throughout the past 110 years.
Leading the prayer, Father Nathan Verallo reminded all that there is no greater sacrifice than laying down one's life for one's friends, and that there is nothing more precious than peace and goodwill.
Wangaratta RSL sub-branch president Lieutenant General (Retired) Ash Power, offering the tribute and pledge, said those assembled at the service were here not to glorify war, but "reflect on the selfless sacrifice of so many".
He said the ANZAC spirit lives on and was epitomised by Australians in battles throughout WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq "in the air, at sea and on land".
At 6.08am bugler Matthew Schultz sounded the Last Post and minutes later Reveille, while lone bagpiper Bruce Meager cut through dawn's break as he sounded the signal ending the battle for the day and farewell to the fallen.
Members of the public ended the service laying poppies, distributed by Wangaratta's 33 Army Cadet Unit, at the cenotaph.
