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Aust Anzac soldiers remembered

Greg Wood. PHOTO: MARK PRICE
Greg Wood. PHOTO: MARK PRICE
The Australian national anthem was played at the Anzac dawn service on the lakefront at Wanaka yesterday, and a small group were heard to be singing along.

One of those there was Greg Wood from Brisbane, living in Wanaka at present, wearing a swag of medals his father earned as an infantryman in World War 2 at places like Tobruk and El Alamein.

Mr Wood said Anzac day was important to him because it recognised the service of an earlier generation.

Mr Wood's father was 19 when he joined up, although the minimum age without parental consent was 21.

He thought he might get his father's signature but "he knew he wouldn't get his mother's signature".

"My old man put his age up two years to get across there.

"He was initially knocked back; walked the block and came back two years older."

He served from 1939 until 1946, a youthful Mr Wood observing his father had obviously survived the war.

Comments

Just remember - it was the Aussies that landed at dawn and not the New Zealanders. One of our many myths of Gallipoli.