'It was actually really hard to leave him': Journey to visit soldier's grave

It wasn't until Faith had to do a school project when she was at Warrnambool's Emmanuel College that she discovered the family's links to Private Daniel Meade.

At 24, and having just finished studying an ancient history degree at university and her whole life before her, to be able to visit the grave of a relative whose life was cut so short at a similar age was a moving experience for Faith.

"It is quite sad to think of such a young country boy from Garvoc going off and enlisting at the age of 22 or 23," she said.

"In a strange sense it felt like time stopped when you were in the grounds of the cemetery itself.

"It was just a very special moment."

Not realising it was a public holiday the day she visit the grave last week, Faith had to walk an hour each way through the countryside to get there - "walking on the land that they once did".

Faith said the trek brought her closer to history, and a place that was once filled with bloodshed and human devastation.

And while the events of WWI might have happened more than a century ago, she said it didn't make it less relevant today.

"Because statistically there were so many casualties, I think that's where a lot of people were forgotten," she said.

Private Meade died in northern France on December 15, 1916 - two days after he was brought to the temporary station hospital that had been set up.

"He had severe shell wounds on both of his legs, and he had to have his right leg amputated," she said.

"According to the letter back to his family, he was not aware of just how much pain he was in."

Despite searching, Faith has been unable to locate any photos of Private Meade but that doesn't mean she will stop looking.

"It was actually really hard to leave him at the end of my visit," she said.

Private Meade is buried at Heilly Station Cemetery in Mericourt-L'Abbe about 19 kilometres north-east of Amiens.

Born in 1893, he had enlisted and sailed out of Melbourne on the Euripides on April 4, 1916, and by the end of that year he'd been killed in action.

A service will be held at Warrnambool's RSL on Saturday, November 11 at 10.45am with a minute's silence at 11am.