After a smaller, restricted service last year, crowds returned in great numbers to the event hosted by the Nowra RSL Sub-Branch with more than 2000 people estimated to have attended Anzac Memorial Park.

The march again traveled down Greenwell Point Road through the township - with applause greeting the veterans who marched, as they arrived at the park.

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They were joined by a large contingent of Royal Australian Navy personnel from HMAS Albatross and a number of local schools.

Even a glitch with the sound system, meaning there was no PA system throughout the park didn't dampen the atmosphere - the assembled crowd simply moved closer.

Commanding Officer of HMAS Albatross Captain Robyn Phillips gave the Anzac Day address, saying while "we can never forget the service and sacrifice on the Gallipoli Peninsula and on the Western Front over a century ago, we cannot allow them to define us".

Capt Phillips reflected on Anzac Day 1942, when the defence of Australia was at its darkest hour during the Second World War, with war in the Pacific.

"The turning points of the war in the Indo-Pacific, the Battles of the Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal only took place from May 1942," she said.

"It was a bleak picture not only for the Australian nation but also for our service personnel.

"They did not have the comfort we have now, the knowledge of their eventual victory.

"They sailed to not some interesting and innovative engagement but to one filled with uncertainty, fear and possibly death.

"But sail they did and they made the most of what they had and in doing so showed characteristics which we must all aspire."

She said they showed co-operation in the face of adversity; courage to engage against the enemy seemingly without weakness; determination to learn, to overcome and to succeed.

"None of these things were predetermined... none were easy," she said.

"So the freedoms and prosperity we now enjoy are to me all the greater, because they were born not in times of easy success, but came forged first in the fire of defeat, tempered in the trials of weakness and failure, and honed through the arduous campaigns in the air and across the waters and islands of the Indo-Pacific.

"As we look to the future, with its perils and opportunities, conscious of the dangers our world faces, I think it is the character of those who served us 80 years ago in the dark days leading up to April 1942 that should inspire us.

"Their service in the direct defence of Australia reminds us of what really matters.

"Their service guides us to that which is best in ourselves, encourages us that we can prevail for the greater good and inspires us to go on to better and brighter things."

Unfortunately, overcast skies as the service concluded meant the usually stunning sunrise wasn't on display this year.

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