From Glenbrook to Mt Victoria, Mountains residents turned out in record numbers to attend Anzac Day services on Saturday.
Emotions were running high as people - young and old - paid tribute on the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign.
Group Captain Karon Millett of the Royal Australia Air Force, summed up the feelings of many at Glenbrook.
"The landing at Gallipoli was seen as a story of courage and endurance amongst death and despair. One good thing that emerges is the Anzac legend. It's not a legend of sweeping military victories and triumphs in war, it is a legend of courage and ingenuity in the face of adversity and importantly of the free Australian spirit," she said.
Many people came from out of the area to honour their Anzac connections.
Kathryn Medbury travelled from Orange to Hazelbrook's Gloria Park to attend the service. Her great grandmother, Margaret Burgess, unveiled the plaque on the town's war memorial in 1927. Margaret had three sons who served overseas in World War I. One, Edward, was killed in action in Belgium in 1917; the other two sons survived. "Hence why I am alive today," said Mrs Medbury.