Lance Sergeant Vivian Russell Britten, service number 10/969, embarked for Egypt on board the troop ship Limerick on October 16, 1914 and those early days in his combat career were colourful - new sights and the camaraderie of training with so many other young men like him, who simply wanted to do their bit for their country and the empire.
But he did not return.
On August 8, 1915, at the age of 20, he was killed during the Gallipoli campaign.
His name is among the thousands on a memorial at Chunuk Bair, on the peninsula.
"It was so terrible on the family - they were sent into total shock and I often think about the impact it would have had, just terrible."
The loss struck Gerda Britten particularly hard, as she died only a few years later.
Janice Britten said the death of Vivian, his older brother, would have also affected her grandfather, Sydney Britten.
But his stoicism was reflected in the fact he saw his three boys all join the armed forces during WWII.
She said the family had few details about Vivian Britten's brief foray into combat.
"We don't know how he died."
Many of the family belongings were divided up and some had been displaced.
She had managed to unearth several pages of a letter he wrote home from Egypt which revealed how enthralled he was by this strange new part of the world.
"We have seen plenty of sights," he wrote.
"I saw many trees you have read about - breadfruit, the banyan tree, cinnamon trees, coconuts and a giant bamboo about six inches through."
Toward the end of the letter he wrote "December - we are now in Suez but don't know what we are going to do or how long we will stay. There is some talk that we are going into barracks in Egypt at Cairo, or near there."
Tragically, he ended up being sent to Gallipoli, and was killed during the battle of Sari Bar, at Chunuk Bair, which took place from August 6-10.
The attack was carried out by two columns of New Zealand Infantry and the losses were high.
Janice Britten said she felt an additional link with her great uncle as he had briefly been a young teacher, and she too had taught, as well as one of her nieces in Auckland.
Now she wants to try and discover more about Vivian Britten's short life, and in particular wants to identify three soldiers taken in a photograph with him.
"Someone may recognise the photo or someone in it - I'd love to find out."
She said Anzac Day was always a special time for her and she was hopeful that one day a street in Hastings may take her great uncle's name.
"It would be a good way to commemorate him."
