Remembering WWII veteran Herbert William 'Bill' Page on ANZAC Day

Mr Page's late wife Geraldine Page and daughter Emily Williams described him as a man with a big sense of character who always had everyone laughing, a trait he held onto even after witnessing the horrors of war.

"He was our big gentle giant, our Bill," Ms Williams said.

"He was actually shot through straight through the cheek while in the field, because he had his mouth wide open laughing at something.

"But that was him, it didn't do any real damage rather than go straight through."

Despite his unfaltering positive character and a background as a dairy farmer, his daughter said the things he experienced at war were terrible.

"He was one of the soldiers who saw Anne Frank's house first hand," Ms Williams said.

"He was also one of the men who had to dig up the bodies where the prisoner of war camps were; he had to dig a huge hole which they pushed bodies into.

"Because he was a farmer, he knew how to operate machinery."

He was married to Geraldine Page for ten years; Ms Page fondly recalled that he could always make her laugh. Some years after he returned from service he was diagnosed with cancer, which he ultimately passed away from when his daughter was eight years old.

"It's just ridiculous when you go through all of those sorts of things in war and then die like that," Ms Page said. Bill page