Fourteen cadets from 24 Cadet Bn NSW AAC Bde spent nine days touring the battlefields of the Western Front, attending the Anzac Day service at Villers-Bretonneux recently.

Two OOCs, two adult volunteers and six members of 1/19RNSWR, accompanied the group touring from Ypres down to Amiens.

Tour organiser Pte Danielle Bourke of 1/19RNSWR said $23,000 was raised to subsidise the trip through a massive fund-raising effort over a 12 month period.

“We ran sausage sizzles, donut drives, pie drives, chocolate drives, raffles and trivia nights,” she said.

Pte Bourke said four of the members on the tour had family connections to soldiers who died on the Western Front.

“We actually made visiting these graves and memorial walls a priority on the tour,” she said.

Contingent Commander, Capt (AAC) Graham Semlitzky said the cadets were continually left speechless when they saw the number of graves in a particular cemetery.

“They were also amazed at how many cemeteries they could see from the one location,” he said.

The group enjoyed lunch at the famous Tommy Café in Pozieres after attending the Anzac Day service at Villers-Bretonneux.

Before returning to Australia the cadets spent a day at Disneyland Paris and a day visiting the Palace of Versailles, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.