Students return from Anzac tour

Two Peninsula Students have returned from a 12-day tour of Europe's wartime Western Front.

Brisbane Water Secondary College Year 11 student Lachlan Steel from Woy Woy and Henry Kendal High School Year 10 student Samantha Wardle from Umina took the trip.

They both won The New South Wales Premier's Anzac Memorial Scholarship which took them and 22 other students to the centenary commemorations of the Battles of Fromelles and Pozieres.

They also explored other battlefields such as the Ypres Salient and memorial sites including Villiers-Bretonneau throughout France and Belgium.

Lachlan and Samantha said that one of the most memorable days for both of them was the Day in the Life of a Soldier tour.

The tour included students touring both German and British trenches, eating lunch World War I style, dressing as a soldier with the uniform, helmet, rifle and pack.

The students toured for hours, during which they learnt army techniques such as leap frogging, practised calls and underwent gas attack training.

Steele and Wardle both laid a wreath at the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium, in memory of the 6000 Australian men with no known graves, 18 of which the pair, through their research, believe were from the Central Coast.

Lachlan said, "What made the experience more relevant was researching a soldier beforehand and then being able to see their grave or name on the Roll of Honour and be able to relate to their story and realise that all of these men made the ultimate sacrifice for their country."

"It was a sombre tour.

"A textbook cannot teach what we learnt first-hand on the Front Line.

"The tour highlighted the sacrifices made by our soldiers 100 years ago and the enormity of the casualty count."

The students will make a public presentation at 6pm in The Pretty Beach Room at Ettalong Diggers Club on The Future of the Anzac Legend.

Email, 16 Aug 2016

Lachlan Steele, Woy Woy

Samantha Wardle, Umina