KEY POINTS:
Five years ago, Neville Berridge's Anzac Day ended in an ambulance, and it seemed it would be his last.
Yesterday, the 76-year-old Navy veteran rode proudly in an Army jeep at the head of the 100-strong New Zealand contingent in Sydney's traditional Anzac Day street march which drew thousands to the rain-soaked city centre.
Mr Berridge, who enlisted in Auckland at age 14 in 1945 and later served in the Korean War, said April 25 carried extra significance for him after he survived a heart attack in 2002.
"I finished the march and dropped dead," he said.
"They carted me off and I woke up six days later in St Vincent's Hospital in intensive care. It scared the hell out of me."
Mr Berridge still has no memory of Anzac Day in 2002.
He returned a year later and was "very nervous" when he walked past the spot where it happened.
Last year, he again walked the entire 45-minute march from the cenotaph in Martin Place, but this year decided the jeep was the best option.
Mr Berridge, president of the New Zealand sub-branch of the New South Wales Returned Services League, said his group had pushed hard for more acknowledgement of New Zealand at the Sydney dawn service.
Yesterday was only the second time God Defend New Zealand had been sung with Advance Australia Fair, and the second time the New Zealand flag had been flown.
Later, the Kiwi contingent was given pride of place near the head of the march and received loud cheers from expatriates lining the streets.
"Australians are very proud of their Anzac tradition but we found at all these ceremonies New Zealand wasn't mentioned," Mr Berridge said.
"If you asked the average Australian high school kid 'what's an Anzac', they'd probably say it was an Australian soldier. That's changing now."
Mr Berridge said the best moments of Anzac Day came when youngsters approached him and other veterans and said a simple "thank-you".
He recalled how he was among 36 successful Navy applicants from among 1300 hopefuls in April 1945, just before his 15th birthday. His father initially refused permission, saying he was too young.
"But I bawled my bloody eyes out all night, and he relented."
Mr Berridge began on the HMNZS Achilles, then served aboard the Rotoiti in Korea. Only eight of his 1945 intake were still alive, he said.
The secretary of the New Zealand branch, Greg Makutu, said the majority of yesterday's marchers served in Vietnam. There were two World War II veterans.
Mr Makutu, a 22-year Army veteran who served in Cambodia and East Timor, carried the banner at the head of the march and said the dawn service was emotional for the New Zealanders.
- NZPA
