GALLIPOLI veteran Roye Rackett was a "terrifying man," his granddaughter told Noorat's inaugural Anzac Day ceremony.
Noorat resident Lyn Patzel told the 150 people at the ceremony that she had been very frightened of her grandfather, a tall and austere man, when she visited him as a child in South Australia.
However, her later discovery of Mr Rackett's First World War diaries gave her precious insights into the wartime traumas he endured, she said.
The diaries had helped her understand why her grandfather "liked his peace and why he liked everyone to eat everything on their plate."
Mrs Patzel said her grandfather, who enlisted at Port Adelaide, survived the Gallipoli campaign to become a war pilot.
Has captured by the German and was a prisoner of war.
Mrs Patzel's reading of excerpts from Mr Rackett's diaries were part of Noorat's poignant Anzac Day ceremony that was moving for its freshness and the big support for the event shown by the small community.
The community built its war memorial only this year after deciding it was time the township had its own permanent commemoration of local people who joined Australia's armed services.
At least nine people from the Noorat district died in the First World War.
Doug Pollard, the president of the Noorat Residents Association that organised the memorial, said it was fantastic to see such a large crowd at the inaugural ceremony.
"It's heartening to see the Anzac spirit is alive and well and growing," Mr Pollard said.
He said Anzac Day was a day of both reflection and renewal.
Mrs Eva Black, who unveiled the memorial, told the crowd that Anzac Day should never be a celebration of war but a commemoration of those who served the nation to give Australians the freedom they presently enjoyed.
ehimmelreich@fairfaxmedia.com.au
