Anzac Day: Clayfield College students Megan Wright, Victoria Lloyd, Ashleigh Friedrich head to Gallipoli

Their great-grandfathers may have served unknown to each other but their des­cendants will retrace their footsteps together.

Clayfield College students who will visit Gallipoli this year. Victoria Lloyd

Their great-grandfathers may have served unknown to each other but their des­cendants will retrace their footsteps together.

Clayfield College Year 11 students Megan Wright, Victoria Lloyd and classmate Ashleigh Friedrich will journey to Gallipoli in Turkey and the site of the Western Front in France and Belgium after being selected as three of 70 Queensland students to attend as part of the Premier’s Anzac Prize.

To commemorate 100 years since the Anzac landing at Gallipoli, and recognise the sacrifices of those men and women who have served our country since World War I, Quest Community Newspapers will publish one story each day online in the lead-up to Anzac Day.

Victoria said excitement had turned to anticipation for her.

Her maternal great-great grandfather Richard Capron had served on the Western Front while her paternal great grandfather Edward Lloyd served at Gallipoli and Egypt, she said.

“I’m most looking forward to being at Gallipoli at the dawn service,” she said.

“It’ll be amazing to be there for the 100th anniversary and commemorate the Anzacs and share it with other students.”

Megan said she would represent Albert Edward Lees on her mother’s side and Thomas (Nick) George Irwin Stumbles on her ­father’s side. Both men served in France and Belgium, places she looked forward to visiting.

“It’ll be amazing to go where they were and to see where they went ... I feel very proud,” she said.

Both girls said although their ancestors had survived the war they had not shared their remembrances.

But Victoria said she had been reading up on her ­father’s side.

“With the research we’re doing I’m learning more about them and what they had to deal with,” she said.

The students will depart Brisbane on April 22 before travelling to Istanbul, Gallipoli, Brussels, Ypres, the Somme and Amiens.