After completing training in Australia, the young man from Pyramid Hill was sent to England to serve with the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command.

There, in 1944, he became a gunner in a crew of seven men – six Australians and one Englishman - who flew a Lancaster on bombing missions over Germany.

“There was great comradeship among bomber crews,” Mr Bawden said.

“It was like a very close family, because we trained together, we went on leave together, we went on operations together.”

Bomber crews were tasked with 30 missions, but the likelihood of completing them all was not high.

By the end of the war, the survival rate in Bomber Command was about 56 per cent, with some 55,000 of the 125,000 aircrew killed while completing operations, 3500 of them Australians.

Mr Bawden’s crew made it to their 29^th operation.

When flying that mission on March 24, 1945 – just months before the end of the war – the crew’s Lancaster bomber was shot down by anti-aircraft guns near Dortmund.

One of the crew members went down with the plane and the remaining six parachuted to land, with Mr Bawden the last to leave.

But tragically, just Mr Bawden and his mate Jim Gillies would survive the war.

After landing, their colleagues were murdered in circumstances that would later be treated as war crimes.

Mr Bawden said his late comrades were now buried in a war cemetery in Germany.

His daughter Dr Sharman Stone, speaking at Monday’s Anzac Day service at Bendigo South East College, read out a letter from one of those men’s mothers.

Her letter was full of questions and gave a sense of the anguish the families of those left behind must have felt.

Looking back at his time serving in World War II, Mr Bawden marvelled at what he and his colleagues faced at such a young age; he turned 21 in hospital in England.

He said he felt it was important for the community to continue reflecting on the service of Australians on Anzac Day.

“I think it’s a part of our history,” Mr Bawden said.

BENDIGO South East College students commemorated Anzac Day with a service attended by veterans who served in conflicts from World War II through to Afghanistan and Iraq.

During the service, students sang songs and recited poems that told of the tragedy of war, while also recounting historic moments such as the Battle of Messine, which was fought 100 years ago.

A recipient of this year’s Spirit of Anzac Prize, Alyssa Lai, delivered a piece she wrote.

It told the story of the youngest Anzac, James Martin, who enlisted and died in World War I at the age of just 14, from the perspective of his younger sister.

Guest speaker Dr Sharman Stone spoke to students about the experiences of her father Harvey Bawden, a veteran of World War II who laid a wreath during the ceremony.

Students also placed flowers to create the school’s wreath.

After the service ended, student leaders participated in a question and answer session with the veterans.