Afghanistan war veteran Troy Croton takes Batchelor Dawn Service into his own hands

When Troy Croton realised his home town would have no Dawn Service this Anzac Day, the Afghanistan veteran said “instead of getting angry and making a big fuss — well I just made my own”.

Troy Croton spruced up the site and held his own service. Picture: Troy Croton

After three tours of duty in Afghanistan as a combat engineer and later an explosive detection dog handler, Troy Croton spent the next decade working in remote Arnhem Land communities.

And even in the most far flung places, Mr Croton was always pleasantly surprised to see the outpouring of support for himself and his fellow veterans every Anzac Day.

“I’ve been to some of the smallest places that are out of the limelight in a way and it just gave me a real sense of pride that these far out of the way places, where I wasn’t expecting anything to happen, they were putting on a really good show,” he said.

When Troy Croton realised there would be no 2024 Anzac Day Dawn Service at his local memorial in Batchelor, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Picture: Troy Croton

So after moving to Batchelor six months ago, the 50-year-old was disappointed that the town, located 20 minutes’ drive from the major service at Adelaide River, didn’t have a Dawn Service ceremony of its own.

“But instead of getting angry and making a big fuss, well I just made my own,” he said.

On April 24, Mr Croton took it upon himself to don the gardening gloves and give the community of about 500 people’s local memorial a bit of well deserved TLC ahead of his own, modest Dawn Service on Thursday.

“We did a (ceremony) the day before at the school so we repurposed the wreaths they made and we took them down and had some candles and set it up and put a slouch hat up and a couple of flags and did our remembrance,” he said.

“I thought it was important that, in our little way, we show people that you can do your own, it doesn’t have to be a big corporation or a council that runs it.

“It doesn’t matter where you are or who you are, you just step up and you put that little bit of effort in and you get up at the crack of dawn and you do your service and you remember your mates — which I lost a fair few mates over there in Afghanistan.”

Mr Croton says over the years, he sometimes struggled with the crowds and fuss made at Dawn Services in big cities and towns.

“That’s just PTSD for you, I guess,” he said.

Troy Croton did three tours of duty in Afghanistan. Picture: Troy Croton

But he always “still did my own little thing” and now it was time to share it with his two youngest sons, aged 3 and 5, saying “it’s important they see the parents stepping up”.

“That’s our culture and that becomes our tradition and if we don’t do it or we wait for everyone else to do it for us, well we lose that culture,” he said.

“Some people did come by and they were pleasantly surprised someone was doing it and they sort of applauded the fact that someone did do something in Batchelor.

“They asked if we’d do it next year and I said ‘Well if I’m still alive, I’ll do it next year’ and they were like ‘Good, I know a lot of people would want to come’.”