ST MARK'S Anglican Church in South Hurstville will commemorate the Anzac centenary on Sunday, April 19, with a service themed Passing on the Spirit of Anzac.
Special features will include the participation of young people, Turkish people and Maori people from New Zealand.
Danebank student Alison McKinnon will talk about what Anzac Day means to young people and will share her experiences of war cemeteries in France.
Alison, 17, was part of a Danebank history and languages excursion to Europe last year, which included the battlefields of France where they "adopted a Digger".
Alison will speak about that Digger, Private David Morgan of Hurstville, on whose grave near Villers-Bretonneux they laid a wreath.
"Laying the wreath on his grave was very moving," she said.
"We realised the personal angle and how precious each life is.
"It was very powerful to be at the cemetery where this person was buried."
Alison said Private Morgan planned to marry Nessie Bessell in 1916 but went to Britain with the Australian Infantry Force instead.
"Nessie gave him a photo from her locket and he put it in the Bible his father had given him," she said.
"In France he took part in the legendary counter-attack against the Germans on April 24, 1918 and was wounded in the head. He died on April 28, aged 23."
Alison plans to await the Anzac dawn with a sleepout at Camp Gallipoli in Centennial Park with about 200 others from Danebank.
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St Mark’s congregation will also welcome a Turkish representative, Mustafa Mehmet Saral from the Turkish mosque in Auburn who will read Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s moving message to the mothers of allied soldiers who died at Gallipoli.
Mr Saral will also parade the Turkish flag alongside those of Australia and New Zealand in recognition of Turkey’s involvement in Gallipoli and its gracious treatment of its enemy’s fallen.
There will be a recital of the Ode in Maori and the service will be attended by NZ World War II veterans Frank Herlo, 102, and Ken Frank, 90.
■ The Leader will publish a special Anzac centenary feature on April 21.