This year Barry Stevenson will commemorate Anzac Day at Mortdale RSL in a combined service with Oatley and Penshurst sub-branches.
Next year he will be at Gallipoli, at the centenary dawn service at Anzac Cove, following in the footsteps of his grandfather.
Mr Stevenson, of Kingsgrove, is one of 400 people with double passes to Turkey reserved for direct descendants of Gallipoli Anzacs.
"The sacrifice of these gallant Anzacs on the then-unnamed beach in the Dardanelles in 1915 saw our nation come of age, and made all Australians proud to salute our new flag and accept the Anzacs as fair dinkum Aussies."
- Barry Stevenson
Those double pass holders are part of an Australian contingent of 8000 who were lucky enough to get places at the dawn service in an Australia-wide ballot that attracted 42,000 applicants.
Mr Stevenson, 78, who holds a certificate of merit and gold badge for his work among ex-servicemen and women, said he was humbled to be given the chance to go to Gallipoli, and believes it is fitting only 8000 Australians will be there.
"They will be representing every Australian back home and the 8000 Australian soldiers lost at Gallipoli," he said.
"Although they did not know it then, history tells us that 15 years after federation Australia was still seeking a unifying identity.
"The sacrifice of these gallant Anzacs on the then-unnamed beach in the Dardanelles in 1915 saw our nation come of age, and made all Australians proud to salute our new flag and accept the Anzacs as fair dinkum Aussies."
He never met his grandfather, Thomas John Stevenson, but he feels he has got to know him well through researching his war history.
"My dad never spoke about his father much — no one talked about the war in those days.
"It wasn't until I was in my 20s that I realised his name was on a memorial in Longreach."
Through his research, Mr Stevenson found the Belfast-born T.J. Stevenson was a career British soldier who was involved in the Sudan campaign in the late 1880s and the siege of Khartoum with General Kitchener.
In the early 1910s, with the rank of sergeant, he left his post in India and emigrated to Australia with his Irish wife Susan and two children, William (Mr Stevenson’s father) and Lily.
They settled in Longreach, Queensland, and had three more children.
In early 1915, T.J. Stevenson joined the Australian Imperial Force and was sent to Egypt with the 2nd Division.
That August the 2nd Division was sent to Gallipoli to reinforce the 1st Division, which had landed on April 25.
He served in Gallipoli until the evacuation in December 1915, seeing action at Russell’s Top and Steele’s Post on the peninsula, before being shipped off to France.
‘‘In July 1916, the 2nd Division, together with the other Anzac division, the 1st, were involved in the first big battle of the Somme,’’ Mr Stevenson said.
‘‘At great cost — 23,000 men were killed and wounded — the two Australian divisions captured Pozieres from the Germans.
‘‘Unfortunately, Thomas Stevenson’s luck ran out at Pozieres and he was killed in action on July 29, 1916.’’
He was 39.
As his grandfather’s oldest living relative, Mr Stevenson is the keeper of his Anzac Commemorative Medal and the family’s history.
‘‘He was unknown to us, but by going though his army history he has become a person I know,’’ Mr Stevenson said.
‘‘He is part of our family and I am proud of his achievements and proud to walk in his footsteps.’’
Mr Stevenson’s Anzac centenary passes do not include airfares or accommodation. The widower also has to decide who will use the other pass.
It’s a toss-up between son Bryan, 53, who entered him in the ballot, or his grandson Carl, 23.
After Gallipoli he might go to France. T.J. Stevenson is buried in Courcelette British Cemetery near Albert.