Anzac Day's significance endures in Wagga as thousands attend Legacy dawn service

Legacy Wagga secretary Anthony Paul said it was the most people he had seen come to the service.

"It was the biggest turnout I've seen - just looking from the stage, looking down Morrow Street, they were just as far as you could see," he said.

"People are remembering the sacrifice that people gave for them to live in a good country. It's great that they all turned up, particularly the kids."

This year marks 100 years since Legacy Australia was founded to help care for veterans' families.

Legacy Wagga president Doug Conkey said it first began on the battlefield at Poitiers, France, before the organisation was formed in 1923.

"A digger made a promise to his dying mate that he would look after his mate's missus and the kids," he said.

"Over the past 100 years, Legacy has supported tens of thousands of widows and families."

To mark the anniversary, a torch relay beginning at Poitiers will travel to all 44 Legacy clubs this year, arriving in Wagga in August.

Mr Paul said the organisation still cares for about 360 widows in the Riverina.

"We're not getting the widows and families of the Vietnam veterans and we'll probably get the Iraq ones who have given their health and their lives," he said.

"So it's continuing."

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Ex-servicemen Trevor Thomson and his wife Mary have attended Wagga's dawn service since 2012, and said the sacrifices of families was something often forgotten by Australians.

"People often forget about the wives at home, because the wives have to put up with just as much as well," he said.

"If anything, they probably have it worse than what we did because at least we've got our mates - it's one of those things that's normally forgotten."