By Shaun Inguanzo
IN THE SILENCE and cold darkness of a Wednesday morning, more than 400 people stood before Dandenong’s Pillars of Freedom.
For a moment, one may have heard the distant sounds of gunfire, the screams of pain, and the rushing sound of the waters of Gallipoli beach.
The overcoming emotions of attending Dandenong’s Anzac Day Dawn Service, which began at 6am, had certainly gripped the crowd.
Tears flowed and heads hung towards the ground as two moments in time – the then and the now – intertwined, and Greater Dandenong residents remembered the fallen heroes of Australia’s World War campaigns.
Reverend Tim Waghorn from St James Anglican Church in Dandenong read the hymn, O God Our Help in Ages Past, to the record crowd of more than 400 people.
Veterans, dignitaries and others then laid wreaths at the foot of the main pillar before the bugler played the Last Post.
Piper Ian Arrel then played Amazing Grace as people laid poppies in special baskets.
As dawn ended, so too did the service, and the crowd walked down Clow Street to the Dandenong RSL for a barbecue breakfast and day of remembrance.