Thousands turned out for the Anzac Day march in Sydney. Credit:Nick Moir He has arthritis and walked the route with a cane as assistance. Mr Weekes is the youngest survivor in the group. He and Ken Solomons 94, refused pleas to use wheelchairs. The group's flag bearer said, "They're stalwarts." Mr Solomons also served as support in the top secret Z Special Unit which went behind Japanese enemy lines. Its existence was only acknowledged in 1981. Increasing numbers of units marching had few or no surviving soldiers, and were represented by their families and friends.

Members of RAEME prepare for the march. Credit:Nick Moir "Nearly there," yelled the crowd in encouragement as they reached Hyde Park where troops obeyed orders "eyes left" to honour the memorial to those who had died. Pam Drinnan, a nurse, carried the flag for the 2nd Air Royal Australian Engineers. Her father Douglas had insisted on marching with bowel cancer that later killed him 19 years ago. Ms Drinnan marched with him to care for him along the route. Now she marches alone in his memory. The last member of the group died shortly after last year's Anzac Day march. Gordon Steele, 96, served in the Mediterranean during World War II on HMAS Perth.

A petty officer, he was transferred off the Perth before it was sunk 75 years ago by the Japanese. Now wheelchair bound, Mr Steele was pushed down Elizabeth Street by his son Denis. An estimated 100,000 people lined the heavily-barricaded streets from near Wynyard to Hyde Park to honour the 120,000 Australians and New Zealanders who have lost their lives in wars in the past 120 years. Leading the march for the last time was Gallant, a police horse that for seven years represented the horses ridden by 1st Light Horse Brigade - the first mounted formation committed by Australia to the First World War which landed in Egypt in December 1914. It is also the 75th anniversary of the largest corp in the Australian Army, - the Australian Army's Corps of Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEMI). "They break it, we fix it," said Winston Coles, the vice president of the RAEMI association who was among 105 engineers marching in Sydney.

"It doesn't matter what the equipment is - weapons, vehicles, tanks, we do all the repairs," he said. "If a gun stops firing, or a vehicle breaks down, an engineer will come in." There are around 2500 serving members of the RAEMI, and their role had becoming increasingly sophisticated as technology had advanced. "There's not a battle we haven't been involved with: We are soldiers and we know how to fight, but that's not our primary role," said Mr Coles. Many other groups such as the RAF Bomber Command in Australia have dwindled in numbers, and are now wondering how to keep their history alive. Loading

Its oldest surviving member is also NSW's oldest living veteran and one of Australia's most decorated soldiers, 104 year old William Wallace McRae of Chatswood NSW. Mr McRae - an Australian who flew with the British Royal Air Force because he was in London when war was declared - says surviving war was nothing more than luck. In an interview with the Herald he dismissed his medals as "just campaign things".