When Wanganui veterans gather at 5.20am next Saturday morning, they will not just be marking the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli.
New Zealand's first ever Anzac Day dawn parade was held in Wanganui, and next Saturday will be the 80th anniversary of that historic moment.
The dawn parade - now a popular tradition across the country - began after members from Wanganui RSA travelled to Australia and attended a dawn parade there.
They were impressed enough to bring the idea back home and in 1935 Wanganui former servicemen started what has now become part of Anzac Day protocol.
A 1939 issue of the now defunct Evening Post newspaper stated that a Mr Howell had "the distinction of suggesting a dawn parade, held at Wanganui in 1935 - the first to be held by returned men in New Zealand".