LATROBE's Anzac Day service will be held today - a week before Anzac Day proper - and RSL State president and Vietnam veteran Ian Kennett can't see what all the fuss is about.
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Veterans from along the Coast will be coming to Latrobe for today's ceremony which will be filmed by the ABC as part of an Australia- wide commemoration to be screened on April 25.
There has been some opposition to the early ceremony despite it getting the nod from the RSL.
Some veterans see Anzac Day as sacred; a tradition that should not be messed with for anything.
"Most people are missing the whole object of this," Mr Kennett said as he prepared to fly to Turkey to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.
"If the service is carried out with due process and with respect we have no problem with it.
"I think those carrying on about the Latrobe initiative should pull their head out of the sand.
"We are not talking about the desecration of Anzac Day or moving Anzac Day to another date.
"It is the Dawn Service on April 25 which is most important to veterans.
"That is when we celebrate troops going onshore at Gallipoli at 4.26am in 1915.
"I congratulate Latrobe for organising today's service.
"I have being trying for years to convince other branches to hold their Anzac celebrations a week early so veterans from outlying areas could join in the major parade on Anzac Day itself."
Devonport and District Vietnam Veterans Association president Bill Wilson believes modern society has already tinkered with too many traditional things.
"Those supporting this television-inspired staging of Anzac Day use the excuse that Anzac Day is already celebrated at different times in Sydney," Mr Wilson said.
"I don't give a stuff what they do in Sydney. If the ABC wants to film an Anzac Day march in Tasmania they will find a lot on April 25 rather than the week before."
But Mr Kennett said Mr Wilson's views were not shared by the wider Vietnam veteran community.
"Vietnam veterans are coming from Ulverstone and other parts of the North-West for the Latrobe ceremony," Mr Kennett said.
Mr Wilson said 15 members, or one-third of his group's membership, voted against the Latrobe event. He said claims that the sub- branch was boycotting the event were untrue.
Mr Kennett praised the group for organising a good Anzac Day service and to be part of a programme that would celebrate the sacrifices made by Australian servicemen and women.
"We are living in the 21st century and need to move forward. To survive the RSL must move with the times," he said.
