One Perth woman, Liz Pervan and her son Duncan Crook from Sydney said they chose to attend the Bowral Dawn Service because they "came last year and it was excellent".

Guest speaker Captain Lisa Batchler RAN from Canberra Navy headquarters said she loved the Bowral service as it had a personal touch. 

Capt. Batchler, who has served in the Middle East, was joined by her family at the Bowral Service.

She said it was heartening to see so many, especially young people, who were out to pay tribute to those who had made the "ultimate sacrifice".

Meanwhile Highlander Elizabeth Wright saw the service as a touching way to pay tribute to her late father who served at Somme and Hill 21.

"He was gassed twice during the war and the second time he remembered someone putting their hand on his shoulder and saying 'this poor bugger won't make it'," she said.

However, she said her father did make it.

"He was taken to hospital and that is where he met my mother," she said.

"They had 10 children.

"My father died on on August 31, 1945, at the age of 49. He managed to live until V-Day.

"He knew about the Germans, but he was too sick to realise the Japanese had also capitulated."