Around 50 invited guests braved the laden sky which threatened to put a dampener of commemoration which was held at the Ballarat RSL at the Midlands Golf Club..

But for those in attendance, it was an intimate service that was just a poignant as any of the 102 that had gone before it.

"It's a little bit disappointing, but it is the way it has to be this year," Mr Douglass said.

"We were determined to have a service one way or the other."

Mr Douglass said it was critical that the sacrifices of generations gone by would never be forgotten.

"You remember the sacrifice the young soldiers went through, those who died for the freedom of the country," he said.

"We give a minute's silence to remember, not only them, but for those that fought and lost their lives in all wars, right back to South Africa in 1899.

"This gives us a time and space to remember them. We lost a generation, most of those were determined to go volunteer and go and defend out country."

War historian Garry Snowdon was the guest speaker for the service, and he spoke about the unsung 'chocco's' of the 39^th Battalion who held off the advancing Japanese army in World War II for five weeks before reinforcements arrived.

"The Japanese had been provisioned for 10 days, yet the 39^th Battalion held them off for five weeks," he said. "They couldn't drive them away, but they were a nuisance.

"All the 39^th had going for them was their magnificent leadership and a magnificent fighting spirit.

"They allowed us to strengthen our defences and there is an argument to say that Australia owes much more to the 39^th Battalion than gets recognised."