I'm honoured to say that the statue on the Anzac Bridge is in my grandfather's image.
He was instrumental in getting the Glebe Island Bridge changed to the Anzac Bridge.
He said to Bob Carr, 'France and England have their monuments, and we don't have any monuments".
So that's why they changed it to the Anzac Bridge and it's why they used his image for the soldier.
He thought it was important that nobody ever forgot the war and the sacrifices that people made.
He thought it was important that we never had that again.
So, he wanted to promote peace.
It's very important for me to remember Anzac Day, not just my grandfather, but all the
young boys that went to war and fought for our country.
We have what we have now thanks to them.
My grandfather has as park named after him: Charlie Mance Reserve.
And they hold the services there.
And it's very moving, it's lovely.
It's a very proud moment to stand in my Grandfather's park and honour the Anzacs.
This Anzac Day I'll be standing at the end of the driveway to honour my grandfather and
the other Anzacs.
I'm not going to give Anzac Day up because of what's happening.
I'm going to stand at the end of the driveway and play the Last Post and remember the Anzacs.
I guess it's something that you just accept and I still feel just as proud standing
at the end of my driveway.
I think it's wonderful.
It fills your heart with pride to think that as Australians we're all coming together to
celebrate this way.
It's really brought out a different side, the best in people.
If we can't go to Anzac Day then … the amount of people participating in this is just…
it's wonderful to see that we can not forget in a different way.
In these uncertain times it's something that really lifts you up to see the people united
to celebrate Anzac Day.
Every year my pride doesn't diminish.
I feel more proud if anything.
Seeing how many people come out to Anzac Day every year, in fact, it seems like more people
come out to the services.
And to know that my grandfather was instrumental in a lot of that is just each year my heart
swells with pride.
I tell as many people as possible to say hello to him going over the bridge.
He would love that, he loved people.
Every time I go over the bridge I go, "Hi Pop!"
And everybody else that goes over please say,"Hello Charlie!"
It's an emotional time.
And I think it has a big significance this year simply based on the fact that, with the
Coronavirus, it stops a lot of people showing their true patriotic spirit and acknowledging
our veterans.
Normally we go to a Dawn Service.
This year unfortunately because of the, you know, COVID-19, like most people they'll either
be celebrating at home but I'll be out on my driveway, right at the top of the driveway.
I'll have my radio or my iPhone on, playing the Last Post at 6am.
It'll be a short moment of reflection as to, you know, what it would have been like at
a normal service.
But the emotion will be no different.
The Last Post, quite significant to myself.
I buried my grandfather who was a World War II veteran.
And I remember standing at his grave and they, in the midst of all the trees, the Last Post
was played by the bugler.
Ever since then it's had a profound effect on me.
I think that as we stand there at the top of the driveway at 6am… we'll all get a
sense of wellbeing out of it.
I think once you take away something that you've normally had, and something as significant
as this, I mean, we all watch the services on TV, we watch the veterans marching down,
you know, the main streets of Sydney and the flash backs all around the country…
I think it'll be tinged with sadness this year.
Obviously the celebrations won't be as great.
But I think the feelings from every home in Australia, there wouldn't be one home in Australia
that hasn't been touched by a veteran or by someone in the Armed Services somewhere in
Australia that won't be celebrating.
So to me it's about a time of reflection.
I'm Matthew Watkins.
I'm ten years old and I'm from the Central Coast and my great grandfather served in World War I.
I usually go down to the Dawn Service at Canberra or just down the road.
And then when it's 11 o' clock I usually go down with my Dad and I watch the soldiers
marching in the streets.
The Anzac Day service is important to me because my great grandfather and my Pop served in
World War I and World War II and I like to carry on my family tradition.
This Anzac Day I'll be dressing up in the clothes I'm wearing right now and I will hang
up flags on my house.
I will be getting my trumpet and I will play the Last Post at 6 o' clock in the morning.
At dawn this year, due to the pandemic and no dawn services, we'll both be celebrating
at the end of our driveways, listen to a last post from somewhere and respect our diggers.
I'll be standing at the end of the driveway with my top on, my pins, and just remembering
all the veterans and people currently serving as well, and what they've done for us and
just reflecting on that.
We have a great, great uncle who's buried at Lone Pine.
Our grandfather was a Kokoda veteran, and our other grandfather was a Rat of Tobruk.
So we've got quite a bit of family that fought in the wars.
It's very important to me that people honour and respect the people who fought for us to
live in the life that we live today in freedom.
They gave their lives for us and we should honour them for one day a year to get up early
and just pay our respects.
It's a time of reflection, it's a time of national pride and this year with everything
that's going on; with isolation and toilet paper fights, and everything else, the country
really needs something to pull them back together and build that community spirit, that national
pride, that aussie spirit, the Anzac spirit that we are famous for.
On the 17th March I launched a campaign on Fabcebook called 'Aussies and Kiwis for Anzacs'.
We're driving the campaign for residents of Australia and New Zealand to stand in their
driveways a little bit before 6 o'clock to commemorate the Anzac Day dawn service.
My father served in Vietnam – he's a veteran helicopter pilot, so Anzac Day dawn services
have been a part of my history for as long as I can remember.
When I heard that they were cancelled this year for public gathering, I was quited devastated
and came up with the idea to launch a Facebook group.
Within hours, we had 10,000 members and within days we had over 100,000 members and I was
very, very lucky to have 6 different volunteers approach me, stick their hand up and say 'Can
we please help?
You're going to need help.'
And they are driving the page.
This year we will be standing in our driveways in the lead up to dawn, listening to the service
from Canberra and observing the minute of silence at home.
We'll be able to see our neighbours doing the same thing, so we'll give them a bit of
a wave and build that community spirit that I think we all need at the moment