War veteran Dave Hanlin has attended Dunedin's Anzac Day ceremonies as far back as he can remember.
''I've been to practically all of them,'' Mr Hanlin (93) said.
''Ever since I was born - more or less - because my old man was always interested.''
At the age of 21, Mr Hanlin left Dunedin to serve in Egypt and Italy in World War 2.
After attending the dawn service at the cenotaph in Queens Gardens today, he will lay a poppy on the grave of his father, David Hanlin, at Andersons Bay Cemetery.
David, a World War 1 soldier in the machinegun battalion, took the family to commemoration ceremonies in Dunedin.
His father was the caretaker at Otago Boys' High School, where a service was held at the school gates every year.
The family, including his mother Louisa and younger sister, lived at the school, until his father retired.
At today's service, he would be joined by 16 members of his family, including his wife, Margaret.
The advice his father gave him before he left for WW2 was to ''keep your head down'', he said laughing about it yesterday.
But soldiers never gave each other advice, he said.
''You can't. When going into a battle area, you've got to look after yourself - with shells bursting and that sort of stuff - if you've got to get down, you've got to get down.''
Because Mr Hanlin was mechanically-minded and could service tanks, he saw a lot of the war.
Repair work was often done under fire, he said.
''A tank would break down, or the tracks would fall off, and you'd have to put them back on again.''
He tried to remember the good times rather than the bad.
He took a camera with him to war and the photos he took include skiing with friends near Mussolini's castle and relaxing in a gondola in Venice.
He created a darkroom using heavy military blankets and developed films with chemicals held in radiator hose.
Before Mr Hanlin went to war, he worked as a mechanic at Otago Motors in Maclaggan St and his boss held his job open until his return several years later.
Returning to his old life in Dunedin was difficult, he said.
''Life was different,'' he said.
He missed the camaraderie of friends - alive and fallen.
In 2004, he travelled with other veterans to a former battle site at Monte Cassino, about 130km from Rome.
Seeing the rocky hill, rebuilt and peaceful was different from the last time he was there, when extensive bombing made the area look like a lunar surface, he said.
