Thomas Gilbert will remember a special member of his family on Anzac Day.

The 15-year-old Nowra High School student will remember his late great uncle, Warrant Officer Ivan Gilbert.

Warrant Officer Gilbert's story is a heroic one and has many layers.

It has bravery, tragedy, romance and much more.

It ends up with a North Nowra teenager sharing an emotional experience in front of a grave in the Netherlands after a major internationally renowned march.

Thomas, who has an interest in military aviation and the military in general, was the right person to tell Warrant Officer Ivan Gilbert's story.

The Year 10 Nowra High student took on the task with miliary-like precision.

He researched his great uncle as part of his school's gifted and talented program.

Thomas previously presented his findings to the Bomaderry RSL Sub-Branch and his school.

The story starts to unfold when Thomas found out his family's connection to a key World War Two mission, Operation Market Garden, and his fascination was enhanced.

Operation Market Garden was an operation fought in the Netherlands from September 17 to 25, 1944.

The determination and courage shown by the airborne troops and the units that assisted them made Market Garden one of the Second World War's most famous battles.

With some help from his grandfather Carlisle Gilbert (Warrant Officer Gilbert's brother), Thomas started his research.

Warrant Officer Gilbert was a qualified pilot but had taken on the navigator's role in a Royal Air Force Dakota.

After dispatching their cargo the Dakota came under heavy attack - they heaviest they had ever encountered and they were struck.

"When they were going down he (Pilot Officer Bill Perry) told everyone to jump out," Thomas said.

Warrant Officer Gilbert said "no" and stayed on the plane.

"Ivan then got in the cockpit because the Dakota was notoriously hard to fly," Thomas said.

"It crashed - hit the ground and the locals in German occupied Netherlands tried to pull the bodies out."

Thomas would love to know why his great uncle did not jump from the plane when he had the chance.

Thomas's grandfather Carlisle was 16-years of age when his brother died.

Warrant Officer Gilbert was good at maths, 'a hit with the ladies', a talented musician and played the oboe and piano.

Thomas, a Cadet Corporal, got the chance last year with 17 other Australian military cadets to take part in a memorable experience.

He represented the 330 Squadron, Australian Air Force cadets, based at HMAS Albatross in the famous International Four Days March in the Netherlands which ends the city of Nijmegen.

The city is close to where Great Uncle Ivan's plane went down.

Thomas, and his fellow cadets, had to march 40 kilometres each day.

"So it's a marathon every day in essence," Thomas said.

Marching through the towns was one of the highlights and Thomas said it was a two-fold experience.

"One was the pure excitement - joy because you've got these little kids running out to with food and we all had souvenirs to give to them," he said.

"Then you'd end up having conversations with an American Colonel and you would be talking to a German dentist who was in the army, and then you're talking to a person from Belgium and then an Irish guard, and there are all these different people - it's a melting pot."

He said something like 71 nationalities took part in the event.

Thomas was in a camp with 6000 people.

"I was the youngest on the entire base," Thomas who was 14-years of age at the time said.

The memory of Great Uncle Ivan was always close.

"I marched with a photo of him in my breast pocket every day for four days," he said.

"You sort of have a sense of pride, joy and honour that your ancestor had a part in this."

When they entered the city of Nijmegen, they all had gladiolas in their backpacks.

"A million people line the streets - it was packed. You march through and everyone's cheering and clapping," he said.

The Australians sang Waltzing Matilda, carried the Australian flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Royal Australian Air Force flag.

"Everyone who's on the street wants a high five," he said.

"It's the most awesome thing because you know that the everyone who completed the march has had a good time.

"You've had a good time, the people who see you on the streets have a good time."

He said it was something to soak up and enjoy.

Visiting Warrant Officer Gilbert's grave, at the Uden Cemetery which is not too far away from Nijmegen, hit Thomas hard.

"It was very powerful. I suppose and I hadn't been totally emotional about it before," Thomas said.

"We were just standing at the cemetery gates and I could feel it.

"Then when we actually actually stood in front of his headstone I sort of broke down in tears."

Thomas experienced grief and sadness for someone he would have loved to had known.

"The inscription on his tombstone 'Greater love hath no man, the man who laid down his life for his friends' is very fitting is and I thought was that was one of the most moving parts of the whole experience," he said.

He could have spent all day by the grave.

"It was just sort of nice to have that emotional connection with something and just not really worry about much else in the world," he said.

Thomas will definitely visit Warrant Officer Gilbert's grave again.

The Nowra High student won the Cross for the Four Day Marches (Vierdaagsekruis) medal and got the Officer Commanding Cadet of the March medallion.

The awards were "for a job well done".

Thomas assisted a team-mate who was struggling and helped keep him going.

He did lots of training prior to the march and only suffered some minor feet blistering.

In the future, he hopes to be an engineering officer within the Royal Australian Air Force.

We know Warrant Officer Gilbert went out on the mission and did not return.

What was not known, until recently, was he had a girlfriend.

His girlfriend, after the plane went down during the war, went to the airbase in Oxford to find out what had happened but because she was not married to Ivan she was turned away.

The girlfriend was pregnant with Warrant Officer Gilbert's child Sue at the time.

The Gilbert family could not recall the girlfriend's name and did they know of Sue's existence until 2000.

Sue tracked the Gilbert family down and they have met on several occasions in England.