The importance of telling Australian war veterans' stories was reiterated during the Wagga Anzac Day Dawn service on Thursday, which was attended by thousands of people.
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There was not a sneeze, cough or sniffle during the minute's silence despite the enormous crowd that came to pay their respects to past and present servicemen and women.
Anzac Day this year marks the 109th anniversary of the landing in Gallipoli.
Group Captain Kerry Hollings, the officer commanding ground academy at RAAF Forest Hill, spoke about the importance of remembering our veterans who served in Gallipoli, some of whom were only teenagers.
"For over 100 years, Australians of all backgrounds and beliefs have answered their nations call to serve," she said.
"Some of them have given their lives to that calling, others carry wounds, seen and unseen, yet remain resolute in their service.
"On Anzac Day as a nation we thank them for their service."
Group Captain Hollings said that service could not be fully understood by those who didn't experience it themselves.
"It is a struggle for us today with our comfortable and secure lives to appreciate what it must have been like to live in the age of a great war and even more difficult to understand the hardships born by those who served in Gallipoli," she said.
"One way to understand the sacrifice of so many is to tell the stories of the serving men and women.
"Jim Martin was born in Tocumwal in 1901, barely a dozen years later he was done with school and working as a farmhand.
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"He wanted to enlist, although he was only 14, but he was tall and look old for his age.
"The recruiting officers were convinced he was 18, or at least they pretended they did at the time.
"Even so, Jim needed parental permission. His mother refused and it was only after he threatened to run away and join up under another name that his mother eventually relented."
Jim was bound for Gallipoli in 2015, waving goodbye to those who loved him the most. Little did they know he would never return.
"He was stationed in the trench lines at Gallipoli near Courtney's Post," Group Captain Hollings said.
"He wrote to his family in October that the Turks were only 70 yards away but in an effort to spare his mother he went on to say 'don't worry about me as I am doing splendid over here'.
"Splendid will never be accurate as Courtney's Post was one of the most dangerous places in Gallipoli.
"But even Jim did not know how much his description tempted fate.
"Less than a month later after writing that fateful word, Jim was evacuated to a hospital ship suffering from an intestinal infection.
"Only days later Jim died of heart failure and was buried at sea."
Mount Austin High School captains Rylan Mahoney and Tamia Godber had the privilege of participating in the service.
It was an honour Mr Mahoney said he would forever cherish and likely not get the chance to have again.
"I think it's really important to me because we have people in our family who have served, so it's sentimental," he said.
"It's something I'm passionate about. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
It is a similar experience for Miss Godber, whose grandfather was a war veteran.
"I come to honour everyone - all of the present and past servicemen and women," she said.