The tragedy of war touched Jordi Pardoel at a young age.
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When she was just seven years old, her father, Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, was killed when his Hercules was shot down over the Tigris River in Iraq in 2005.
This morning, the young teenager from Narrabundah will stand before thousands of people gathered outside the Australian War Memorial at dawn to read the solemn war poem In Flanders Fields.
Her words will honour her father, and all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
"I think he'd be proud," she said. "He'd be proud that I was reading it and how I understand what it means. I can relate to it because when I read it it reminds me of how I felt through the experience after dad died."
On the jacket of her Canberra Girls Grammar uniform, Jordi will wear medals that span different generations of Australian conflict.
Her great uncle was killed in action in Libya in World War II and her great-great-grandfather died from injuries sustained in Tobruk.
The 14-year-old from Narrabundah has practised the poem at every opportunity.
School holidays have meant rehearsing on long car trips, between Sydney, Canberra and the south coast.
Her mother Kellie Merritt, Australia's first Iraq service widow, is quietly moved to tears of "pride and grief" as she listens to her daughter recite the haunting verse.
"If my children can ask questions of war, bravely tackle the tension of why their father and great-great-grandfather died, with all the emotional and intellectual courage they can muster, so must we," Ms Merritt said.
She is constantly fighting to make sure her children's memories of their father do not fade.
The family, also including India, 9, and Jackson, 13, travelled to Jordan for 10 days last year, to visit the spot where Paul was stationed for a period.
It gave Jordi an insight into what life had been like for her father.
That trip and the reciting of In Flanders Fields are part of a long journey for the children to try and come to terms with the meaning of war.
"I'm not that nervous, I'm kind of excited and just really, really lucky to be able to read the poem," Jordi said.
"It reflects my experience and how I feel about everything, it's quite a meaningful poem, it's a bit sad." she said.
