by Keith Anderson
Longwarry's annual Anzac Day service held on Sunday drew a good crowd of about 70 people.

It maintained a tradition that began more than 60 years ago of holding the Anzac service at the town's war memorial on the Sunday before April 25 to enable war veterans from the town and surrounding area to attend the main march and service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.
The attendance on Sunday that ranged across all age groups, from the very young to the elderly, was comprised primarily of veterans, descendants of deceased ex-service people and community groups.
The brief 15-minute ceremony during which wreaths and other floral tributes were laid at the cenotaph, was followed at the Longwarry Public Hall by a guest speaker and performances by the 24-strong Cardinia Concert Band that has attended the Longwarry event for a number of decades.
The band's Jason Stubbs played the last post and reveille after the reciting of The Ode by Longwarry RSL president Kevin Stephens and one minute's silence.
Wreaths and flowers were laid by descendants of Prisoners of War, family members of veterans, guest speaker Sophie Sierak, Longwarry RSL, and on behalf of Baw Baw Shire, Royal Australian Air Force veterans, the Gippsland chapter of the Veterans Motorcycle Club, Longwarry fire brigade, Drouin and District Community Bank, and Longwarry's Lions club, hall committee, historical society and senior citizens.
Guest speaker at the hall Sophie Sierak spoke of the service of her grandfather Horace Sierak, a shortening of his Polish-heritage family name of Sierakowski, and her father Norm Sierak, the current secretary of the Longwarry RSL.
She told the audience the grandfather she never knew was among the Anzac troops involved in the first landings at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915.
He joined a New Zealand regiment after stating he was a year older than he actually was - 19 - but he and a number of others missed the sailing of their ship while on shore leave during a stopover at Albany in West Australia.
Horace Sierak returned to Melbourne where he was permitted to enlist again, in the Australian Imperial Forces and joined the 6th Battalion.
Wounds suffered in a bomb explosion three weeks after landing at Gallipoli saw him evacuated to a hospital in Egypt where, after other health problems were detected, he was deemed unfit for further service and repatriated to Australia.
But Horace wasn't finished with serving his country. He enlisted again in World War 2 in 1941 but because of his medical condition could only serve at home. He died aged 61 in 1957.
Ms Sierak's father, Norm, the third of four boys in the family, was only seven years old when his father died and at age 16 joined the Royal Australian Navy as a junior recruit.
In March 1968 Norm was deployed on the guided missile destroyer HMAS Hobart to join the United States 7th fleet operating off the coast of Vietnam and which in June of that year suffered several missile hits with two sailors being killed from, what later, was identified as "friendly fire".
Ms Sierak said she was proud to be the daughter and granddaughter of veterans and thanked all current and former ex-servicemen and women for their service, especially those that paid the ultimate sacrifice.