At 9.30am this morning the Grey Lynn Returned Services Club hosted the annual ANZAC service. The march started @9.30am on Grey Lynn's Castle Street and finished at the Club. There were some great inspiring speeches and prayers from Rev Mua Strickson-Pua.

Phil Goff, Mayor of Auckland was also one of the speakers.

I can't hear the Last Post without tearing up.

On this day I remember Cyril Bradbury, (25/255 RFM) my wonderful Grandad who lost a lung during WW1, after being gassed in the trenches in Egypt.

He spent some time recovering in the UK. He served one year and 332 days overseas and returned to NZ on RMS Tainui in 1918, with only one lung.

He was a fighter and lived until he was 71. He never liked to talk much about his experience during the war - but I loved his humour and his stories about the good old days.

My father, George Leach was a Londoner - during WW2, he wanted to do his duty so he lied about his age so he could join the Royal British Navy. He was returning from the US to the UK when a torpedo hit his ship and my dad was blown off the deck into the freezing Atlantic.

He survived and ended up in NZ where he joined the NZ Merchant Navy and he served time in Korea. After meeting my mum at a dance in Bunnythorpe, my dad jumped ship and settled in Feilding, a small town in the Manawatu.

I will always remember both my dad and my grandad with huge love and thank them for their service.

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