Originally bound for Egypt, the Marathon altered course to England, and landed on 9 July 2016. Before heading into the fray on the Western Front after another five months training.

The 33rd was formed in Armidale and made up of men largely from our region, hence took the name New England’s own.

They answered the call, despite already knowing about the disastrous Gallipoli campaign and the tragic losses suffered.

The impressive war record of the 33rd Battalion is not generally known to present day Australians.

Every battalion history is filled with stories of valour, sacrifice and victory. The 33rd, however can make some unique claims that place it in the upper bracket. In all its active service the battalion never failed to take a position it attacked, and was never evicted from one it held. Among its greatest achievements was the taking of the whole of the German right flank at the battle of Messines in June 1917,

Where Guyra’s own, the then Major Harold (Bill) Fletcher White, commanded D Company and was award the Distinguished Service Order for his ‘utter disregard of personal danger, his indomitable will and his tireless energy’ during his ninety-six hours in the front line.

Writing specifically of the 33rd Battalion the official historian of the war. Dr. C.E.W. Bean, in Volume 5. said: ‘During the Battle of Messines, the 33rd, an exceptionally fine unit. commanded by a young Gallipoli veteran, Lt-Col. Morshead. had been specially chosen by Monash for the extreme right flank position.’

Of Villers-Bretonneux Bean says: ‘The 33rd was a battalion which anyone acquainted with the A.I.F. recognised as a magnificent battalion, even before Messines in 1917, and one of the very best.’

An impressive record came at a high price At War’s close May 1919, the 33rd had suffered 451 men killed, almost half lost. Many Guyra men lay among the dead.

The Australia we know today and the Australia the brave men of D company of the 33rd knew are like foreign countries. The tide of events since they left our shores 100 years ago has been so dramatic, so vast and all-consuming, a world has been created beyond the reach of their imagination.

They may have believed that the Great War would be an adventure too grand to miss. Some may have felt that they would never live down the shame of not going. But the chances are most went for no other reason than that they believed it was their duty - the duty owed their country and King.

Because the Great War was a mad, brutal, awful struggle, distinguished more often than not by military and political incompetence; because the waste of human life was so terrible that some said victory was scarcely discernible from defeat; and because the war which was supposed to end all wars, in fact sowed the seeds of a second, even more terrible, war -  we might think the 451 men of the 33rd killed in the war died in vain.

But, in honouring our war dead, as we always have and as we do today, we declare that this is not true.

For out of the war came a lesson which transcended the horror and tragedy and the inexcusable folly.

It was a lesson about ordinary people – and the lesson was that they were far from ordinary, indeed by their actions and courage, they were extraordinary.

Adam Marshall MP