By CASEY NEILL
A SEA of faces representing all corners of the globe was unmoved by the steady stream of rain that fell throughout the Dandenong Anzac Day service on Saturday morning.
Concerns about a possible terror attack also failed to dampen the thousands-strong crowd, though reminders were all around them.
Police closed Clow Street between Stud Road and Princes Highway, blocking entry from side streets and Dandenong Plaza.
Officers in fluorescent yellow vests – bullet proof vests protruding from beneath them – were at every turn, as were many colleagues in plain clothes.
But the focus remained on remembering the Australian soldiers who stormed the beaches of Gallipoli in an ill-fated mission exactly 100 years ago.
HMAS Cerberus’s Commander John Goss and his wife Commander Janine Goss shared guest speaking duties and told the crowd about the role the Australian Navy played in the landing.
“Their legacy is the inspiration which they still give to succeeding generations,” she said.
“For a century we have drawn courage from them.
“All of us owe the original 1915 Anzacs and those who served after them respect and remembrance.”
Sahar Ramazani laid a wreath for the Association of Australian Students from Afghanistan, the first time the Dandenong group had taken part in the service.
“I’m an Australian Citizen,” she said.
“Today I felt more like an Australian.”
Five-year-old Sydney marched alongside her father Sean and grandfather Jim, a National Serviceman, to honour her great, great, great, great uncle William Henry Powell, who was killed in action in France in 1918.
Alister Stanley’s father served in World War II and he proudly wore his medals.
Beneath them he pinned a 1914-20 British War Medal he bought in a second hand store that belonged to a soldier he knows nothing about.
“I’m wearing it to honour him,” Mr Stanley said.
Charles Edward Leigh enlisted in Dandenong in 1917 and died in France on 31 May 1918.
His niece Maryanne Jackson and her husband David travelled from Korumburra to attend the service, clutching his photograph and a scroll commemorating his sacrifice.
They’ll reunite with his descendants at Dandenong RSL on the anniversary of his death.
Keysborough Turkish Islamic and Cultural Centre president Ekrem Ozyurek presented the RSL with a framed copy of the moving letter former Turkish president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk presented to Australian, New Zealand and British officials in 1934.
“Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well,” it reads in part.
Earlier in the day, the Dandenong dawn service crowd doubled from last year to about 1500 people.
At the commemoration, Dandenong-based mental health service ‘Ermha’ laid a wreath containing felt poppies its Stepping Stones’ program participants made.
They also wrote heartfelt messages for service men and women in cards adorned with poppies which will be displayed in the Dandenong RSL.
