Two remarkable Canberrra women will be torchbearers in the Legacy Centenary Torch Relay which will take place through the streets of the national capital on Monday, August 28.
Navy veteran Merle Hare, 103, will be completing a leg of the relay, as will fellow Navy veteran Kate Munari, the only female Navy helicopter pilot to fly in Afghanistan.
The relay, which started in France on April 23, presented by Defence Health, commemorates 100 years of Legacy, which was formed in Melbourne in 1923 in the wake of the devastating losses of World War I.
The organisation was set up to support, financially and emotionally, families whose loved ones were killed or injured in the war and has continued to do that work for the last century.
The torch relay is due to finish in Melbourne on October 13, but before then, it will travel along 18 kilometres of Canberra's roads on Monday, August 28 starting at 10.30am from the Australian War Memorial and finishing at 3.30pm at Government House.
More than 50 torchbearers will be part of the relay in Canberra including Legacy beneficiaries, "Legatees" or volunteers and Defence personnel.
Mrs Hare, 103, who still lives at home in Braddon where she tends her beloved garden, served four years with the Navy during World War II.
She did clerical duties at HMAS Cerberus near Melbourne during the war. Her twin brother Don was killed in the war while a flight engineer on a Catalina flying boat laying mines in the South China Sea.
"We were always great mates and we stuck together, not matter what. He was blonde and blue-eyed and I was brown as a berry, always. So we didn't look like twins but we were mates all our lives," she remembered, fondly.
Mrs Hare's husband Bob was also an ex-soldier and following his death, in 1997, Legacy stepped in to support Mrs Hare, even if it was a phone call to check in or taking her to a social event.
"Legacy, they're always there. There's always someone making sure that I'm okay all the time," she said.
"I feel very cared for. It's very, very nice."
Kate Munari is a trailblazer in the Australian Defence Force.
Now aged 41, the mum-of-one lives in Chapman and volunteers with Legacy as a Legatee, supporting defence families.
She joined the Royal Australian Navy at 18, through the Australian Defence Force Academy and qualified as a helicopter pilot in 2006.
She was posted to the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom and served in Afghanistan three times as part of Commando Helicopter Force, flying day and night in all weather conditions.
Ms Munari has been a Legatee or volunteer with Legacy since 2018, realising how important family support was during her career and that she needed to give back.
"I really enjoy it because you get to work with the families of veterans and I've done everything from house visits, just go and have a cup of tea, to helping guide the widows and widowers with regards to their entitlements," she said.
Legacy Canberra president Chris Appleton said it supported more than 800 members of veteran families in Canberra, Yass and Boorowa, aged from 107 to three, including covering medical expenses and the basics such as heating bills.
"Legacy was founded in Melbourne to support the families who had suffered so terribly in the first World War. A hundred years later, they're all gone but there is another generation of veterans who need Legacy support," he said.
He said the children of lost or injured veterans received all kinds of help, from assistance with school excursions to help to get their driver's licence.
"There are 32 kids supported by Canberra Legacy and we ensure they will not miss out on anything," Mr Appleton said.
