Brotherhood and comradeship was the theme to warm the hearts of a large crowd of about 1200 people at the Tauranga RSA's dawn service today.
A chilly morning was made even chillier when a strong breeze got up as the ceremony was coming to an end with people welcoming the opportunity to enjoy a hot drink or a tot of rum.
As expected, the crowd was well down on last year's 100th anniversary of the commencement of Gallipolli landings. But the ceremony still reverberated with all the emotion of dawn services.
Rev John Hebenton opened his prayer by saying that today was the 100th anniversary of the first Anzac commemoration and the cententary of the RSA.