Two St Columba's Catholic College students, Madison Thompson and Samuel Lewis, recently returned from an 11-day ANZAC scholarship program to Gallipoli and the Western Front. The students were part of a group of six chosen from western Sydney. They paid their respects to the fallen at Villers-Bretonneux and Tyne Cot and the severity of WWI was brought home to them after visiting the memorials and seeing headstones of soldiers as young as them.
Madison said she found the experience life changing.
"I cannot conceive of the courage displayed by those men not much older than myself. The beachside cemeteries which populate the shoreline allowed me to visualise the lives which the figures of history books represent."
And Sam agreed adding "seeing ANZAC Cove and the peninsula made me understand how the Entente Force would've been absolutely massacred due to the steep and rugged terrain. Seeing it now also made me understand how much it's changed over the past century as now it's a lovely, green beach next to the Dardanelles, once; it was a war ravaged shore that would've had shell holes and weaponry on it."
The pair travelled with state government representatives and sponsors, ClubsNSW.
Blue Mountains MP Roza Sage, said she felt "very privileged" to travel with the group.
"If our two Blue Mountains winners of the ANZAC essay competition are a reflection of today's youth our future is in very good hands."
The students also attended the Westminster Abbey Remembrance Day Service to commemorate the Anzac Centenary and saw the moat of ceramic poppies artwork around the Tower of London.