LAST year, Murray McCooke checked himself out of a Melbourne hospital.

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He wasn’t supposed to be in the Albury parade, let along carrying the Vietnam War veterans banner.

And yet that is what he did, despite not long having undergone a stem cell transplant.

On Saturday, a now much fitter Mr McCooke did the march again, a tradition he treasures.

Anzac Day is sacrosanct, but he couldn’t march before he finally laid to rest his demons from the war.

A big part of doing that was the welcome home parade in Sydney back in 1987 for the Vietnam boys, something denied to them when they returned from the war.

The pride, Mr McCooke said, was in being acknowledged by the community.

An even greater pride, though, is his family’s support.

On Saturday, two of his grandchildren — cousins Josie Gitsham, 4, of Albury, and Olive McCooke, 5, of Melbourne — could be seen waving with absolute delight as their “Pa” marched past.

The girls’ aunt Tierre McCormack said her father’s service and that of generations before him was honoured and held dearly by their family.

“Dad’s been marching for 20 years, so it’s a big event for us,” Mrs McCormack said.

Just last year, Mr McCooke’s now 97-year-old mother, Joan McCooke, got to see him march for the first time since he came home from Vietnam.

Helping him carry the banner on Saturday was his lifelong mate Ron Hulm, a former Albury boy who now lives just north of Coffs Harbour.

Mr McCooke said the crowd on Saturday was the biggest he had ever seen “and they just seem to be getting larger every year”.

He attributed that to the efforts being made by veterans’ groups to educating the young.

“Anzac Day always meant a lot to me,” he said.

“I wear the medals of my great uncle, who was killed in Belgium.”

He hopes to visit Belgium’s Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres for the 100th anniversary of his great uncle’s death on April 20, 2017.

Mrs McCormack said it was always “pretty special” to see her dear Dad march.

“As a child of a Vietnam vet’ your life is not always rosy,” she said.

“You don’t always understand what they really went through, though you’re affected by it.

“To see him march, and seem him so proud, just makes you feel like it was all worth something.”

The family makes a complete day of it, starting with the Albury dawn service, the veterans’ breakfast, the service at the SS&A Club, the street march, then back up to the monument for the 10am service.

Then it was coffee together followed by Mr McCormack reciting the Ode at Saturday’s O&M match between Albury and North Albury.

Josie and Olive not only got to support Pa; they also go to see cousins marching with the schools’ contingent bringing up the rear.

“They take it in turns to wear these medals to remember their grandparents, their great grandparents and great great grandparents who have gone before then,” Mrs McCormack said.

“We’ve got to remember that we’re free because of the decisions that they’ve made and the sacrifices.”