Scores of people gathered at Fort Hamilton yesterday morning as the sun rose to remember Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died during battle.

The Anzac commemorative sunrise service attracted more than 50 local Australians, New Zealanders, Britons and Bermudians, as well as representatives from the Royal Bermuda Regiment and Bermuda Legion.

Jane Chapman, who organises the annual event, spoke of the importance of this centenary of the first Anzac Day in 1916 and recognised that it was 101 years to the day since troops landed in Gallipoli in Turkey at dawn.

The life of Petty Officer George Sampson, a Scottish serviceman who received the Victoria Cross for his efforts helping the dawn landings in 1915, was also remembered by those that gathered at Fort Hamilton.

“A third and symbolic link between Bermuda and the Anzacs is that the service was set overlooking the water,” Ms Chapman said.

“It is reminiscent of the landings to shore and before a lone pine at Fort Hamilton, which is the name of a significant battle between the Australians and the Turks in Gallipoli and now the name of the Australian Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Anzac Cove in Turkey.”

During the service, messages from the respective Governor-Generals and Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia were read by their national expatriates.

The Governor, George Fergusson, who has extensive New Zealand heritage, also addressed the crowd and recounted stories of the lives of some Anzacs who survived wartime campaigns.

After several wreaths were laid in memory of the fallen, The Ode of Remembrance was read and the Last Post was played on a bugle before a minute’s silence.