In his 75 years with the Albury City Band, Kevin Burns has missed the ANZAC Day march maybe once.
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But the drummer and his good friend Ken Polkinghorne, whose membership is three years shy of Mr Burns', had to sit out this year.
So instead, the pair reflected on how the event has changed.
"The first real memories of ANZAC Day for me started in 1946, when aged 11 years, I became a member of Albury Town Band - now Albury City Band," Mr Burns said.
"Probably up to about the early fifties, the whole of the parade would assemble on the western side of Young Street, south of Dean Street.
"Originally we used to go into Thurgoona Street, and pull up at the old gaol where those three-storey flats are on the corner of Pemberton.
"A bus would take us up to the Monument for the service.
"A lot of people would walk from the end of Dean Street up to path that goes to the top of the hill.
"There's been many changes since, even with the services."
Some members remember when the memorial service was conducted in front of the monument, and due to the band being put in shade, some would stamp their feet in fear of frostbite - the only time tapping while playing was allowed.
During the 1960s the band would even "dash" to Howlong after the Albury service for that town's march, and Mr Burns recalled another particularly memorable march that happened in Albury.
"In 1950 we had a band master who was very much a showman," he said.
"We had seven side drums, a base drum and a tenor drum, and he thought it would be really spectacular ... if we went up Dean St first.
"We really belted things out, and the drums were so loud, we could see the shop windows vibrating."
The assembly point was moved into Dean Street as traffic grew and in 2012 the march was reduced to the length of the post office.
"The area around Albury's War Memorial has been considerably transformed in recent years, the most recent work yet to be unveiled," Mr Burns said.
"The narrow road up to and around the monument was gravel with little or no hope of getting buses the size of those taken there today to fit between the trees.
"There was no landscaping, no toilets and not much room for the crowds."
The pair watched the demographics of the march change, from many veterans to young children.
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"We aged with them [the veterans]," Mr Polkinghorne said.
The men will look forward to playing again next year.
"It is disappointing that there is no parade this year, as it would have been my 75th occasion," Mr Burns said.
