The day was originally dedicated to remembering soldiers who died in the Gallipoli campaign in the Great War, but has been extended to remembering all fallen soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
‘It’s really important to remember the great sacrifice that was made in both wars,’ said Jonathan Bates, a member of Guernsey’s New Zealander community who was responsible for organising the event. His grandfather served as a major in the New Zealand 22nd Battalion during World War II.
‘It’s important to us especially because we’ve come from so far away and our families have traditionally celebrated this.’
The service was held at 7.30am on Saturday, and was led by the Dean of Guernsey, the Very Rev. Tim Barker.
It saw wreaths laid at the memorial, prayers said for war and for the fallen, and a silence kept.
‘In Guernsey, there is a real sense of military remembrance,’ said Mr Bates.
‘There was the Occupation here, and of course the Light Infantry here to fight in the First World War.
‘And so there’s a real bond, I think – an understanding of having to leave to go and fight. It’s just in our case, we travelled much further.’
2026 marks the 111th year since the Anzac forces made the journey across the globe to fight as part of an Allied expedition.
They formed part of the force that set out to take the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire – now Turkey – and open the Black Sea to the Allied navies.
The Anzac soldiers landed on Gallipoli on April 25 1915, and, though the campaign was intended to be brief, remained stuck in a stalemate for eight months. 8,709 Australian soldiers died during the campaign, alongside 2,721 from New Zealand. This was the 15th year that the island has held a service to honour the Anzac troops.