Many members of the state Hellenic RSL branches will be dusting off their medals and preparing to march in front of bumper crowds on Anzac Day.

President of the Victorian Hellenic RSL branch, Steve Kyritsis, says this year will be extra special for the members as they march to remember 100 years past from the beginning of the First World War.

Around 20 members of the RSL will be at the dawn service in Melbourne, including Vietnam veterans and younger Greek Australians who have come back from Afghanistan.

“It’s a special dawn service because of the centenary,” Mr Kyritsis tells Neos Kosmos.

“Last year at the Shrine, 70,000 people at 6am, this year I think the 100,000 will be easily reached.”

The Hellenic RSL is the only Greek organisation given clearance to march on Anzac Day, something Mr Kyritsis is very proud of.

“It’s an honour to march, because we do have many Greek Australians in the Armed Forces who served with the Australians in the First World War, and in the Second World War and of course in Vietnam and the Afghanistan war,” he says.

“We do have very close connections with the Australian forces.”

According to his research, Mr Kyritsis says there were at least 80 Greek Australians that served amongst the Australian forces in WWI.

As an adoptive country, fighting for Australia showed just how much Greek Australians respected their new residence.

Those men began a long legacy of Greek Australian men defending Australia’s sovereignty.

“There is a rich history of Greek men that served in the Australian Army in all wars,” Mr Kyritsis says.

As part of the Anzac centenary, the Hellenic RSL will be sending eight young military cadets and four officers to Lemnos to take part in memorial services on the island.

Giving the young cadets the opportunity to connect with a part of history is something close to Mr Kyritsis’ heart.

As a volunteer at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne for years, he has seen an increase in interest about Australia’s war history from a new generation.

“There is so much interest over the last 10 years shown by the young generation and I mean that,” he says.

“We have bus loads that come to the Shrine from schools every day of the week. They want to know about the history of Australia’s [Army] in the First and Second World Wars.”

The First World War remains the most deadly conflict for Australia. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of which over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded or taken prisoner.

The last surviving ANZAC, Alec Campbell, died on 16 May 2002.