Vic Anzac services focus on younger vets

Mark Jennings is one of the faces of the modern Anzac Day.

The 43-year-old colonel's 23-year military record includes postings to Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010 and stints as a peacekeeper in Rwanda, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

In Afghanistan in 2010, he commanded more than 700 6RAR infantry troops. His battalion suffered 40 casualties, including six deaths. One of his soldiers, Corporal Daniel Keighran, was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Colonel Jennings will speak about his experiences to the 70,000 people expected at the dawn Anzac Day service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance.

He said he did not grow up in a military family but his grandfather and great-grandfather served in World War II and World War I, while many of his father's friends went to Vietnam.

As a boy, he tried to understand their perspectives on Anzac Day but his view has now been shaped by his own experience.

"Anzac Day is not just about the sacrifices of the men and women that came before us," he said.

"It's now also about things that I have lived, soldiers that have been lost, friends that have been lost. It's very personal to me."

He welcomed the recognition of younger veterans.

"It's not so much the passing of a torch to us but a generational change that is happening," he said.

"There is growing interest in Anzac heritage and people have been taught about it, particularly since 1999. Australia has been involved in overseas conflict almost continuously since East Timor."

Shrine of Remembrance chief executive Denis Baguley said spectator screens will be set up for the first time to cater for the bumper crowd.

"Next year will focus on the 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli but this year, with the cessation of hostilities in Afghanistan, is the perfect opportunity to focus on the role of veterans from those recent conflicts," he said.