Wagga veteran Ken May takes time on November 11 to think about the sacrifice members of his family made during the 'Great War'

Remembrance Day falls on November 11 each year, and on the 11th hour of that 11th day of the 11th month, a minutes' silence is observed to remember those soldiers who died fighting to protect the nation.

And it's a time when Mr May takes stock of his family's involvement in the 'war to end all wars'.

His grandfather Tasker May was a veteran of both the Boer War and WWI.

"It starts with my grandfather who apparently at the age of 14 tried to enlist in Melbourne ... but they wouldn't accept him because he was too young," Mr May said.

"So, my great-grandfather decided he would put him on a boat and send him to South Africa and he joined the imperial light horse."

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While details about his time in Africa are scant, he served five campaigns there and was young enough when war broke out in the early 1900s to serve once more, this time in WWI.

Mr May's uncle and step-uncle also served - in the navy in WWII - but it wasn't until Mr May found out that his great-uncle Edward died on the fields of Polygon Wood in 1917 that Remembrance Day took on greater significance.

"It's more important to me than Anzac Day ... especially in the last 10 years since I found out about Edward," he said.

"The First World War was ... a really cruel war and a lot of people possibly wouldn't have been here had their forefathers not survived that war, and that's something we should all think about."

Wagga veteran Kara Jordan, 33, said Remembrance Day is a chance for her and others to think about the mental sacrifice that all combat veterans make.

"I haven't lost anyone to battle, but it's more the psychological and familial loss. My uncle nearly [took his own life] a few times, my husband served in a war zone and that's been a trying period trying to support him," she said.

"So, Remembrance Day to me is about acknowledging that blank cheque that as a veteran we sign."

And both agree that it should be remembered most of all, that the poppy is a symbol of peace.

"I didn't serve a day in my nearly 12 years of service in a war zone, and there was a time when I was meant to ... it terrified me to know I was going to a war zone. So, that symbol of peace [is important]," she said.

The Remembrance Day commemorative service will be held from 10.30am at the Victory Memorial Gardens.

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