War Memorial director Brendan Nelson paid tribute to the sacrifice of a dwindling number of World War II veterans as Australia's "greatest generation" at a ceremony to mark the end of the six-year conflict in Canberra.
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Dr Nelson addressed about 150 veterans, family members, servicemen and women who gathered to mark the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific, or VP Day, on Saturday.
"This generation of Australians now leaving us, whose sacrifices we honour today, is the greatest generation this nation has ever produced," he said.
"Born in the aftermath of the war that was, growing up through the Great Depression, coming to adulthood under the shadows of the war that was coming."
Dr Nelson said those who fought and lived through the war years had courageously defended their nation, its values and its vital interests.
"They would then undertake the economic and social reconstruction of Australia, laying the foundations for the prosperity enjoyed by subsequent generations, including my own."
He implored younger generations to embrace the world as confident and passionate people imbued with the veteran's legacy of endurance, courage and mateship.
"Their Australia is one to which we should recommit ourselves, an Australia that enshrines principle above position, and values before value."
Dr Nelson said the defeat of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan claimed 60 million lives and was the "most destructive conflict in human history" and changed the world forever.
He paid tribute to this country's "unprecedented" contribution to the war effort of one million citizens who served, including 70,000 women, in conflicts throughout Europe, Asia and Africa between 1939 and 1945.
The years of war left 40,000 Australians dead, more than 100,000 wounded and 30,000 were prisoners of war.
The wreath-laying ceremony was one of many events that marked the anniversary across the nation.
War Memorial World War II historian Lachlan Grant said this year's anniversary was particularly significant as numbers of living veterans continued to fall.
"There are very few veterans left in Australia, the numbers are around 25,000 and those who were prisoners of the Japanese there's only about 200 left," he said.
"It's the last major anniversary where we will have numbers of veterans with us."
