"I lived with it from day one," Mr Dalziel, now 70, said during a family pilgrimage to the Australian War Memorial on Monday to mark the 98th anniversary of his father's act of heroism. "It took me quite a while before I even knew it was important."

Henry "Harry" Dalziel received the 1000th VC to be awarded after storming a German machine gun post wielding two revolvers and a captured enemy dagger on July 4, 1918, during the Battle of Hamel.

While he never spoke of the war to his children, he did write an account of the events of that day many years later.

"They used to call him "two gun Harry" or something," Mr Dalziel, said.

Mr Dalziel and his brother and sister owe their existence to luck given Harry came within a whisker of losing his life that day. Shot in the head, he suffered terrible injuries which left his brain exposed.

"Dad was in a pile of bodies and the Americans were digging them out to bury them," he said. "They discovered he was still alive.

"He had bullet holes in him; I remember that. He had one in his back and he had one in his hand. We used to like looking at them when we were kids.

"You couldn't see the head wound; his hair had grown over it. The hole [in his skull] was just covered in skin. You couldn't wash it so mum used to have to clean it out every now and then."

Harry never talked about the war to his children, even on Anzac Day.

"We didn't have much to do with him because he was sick all the time. He used to get headaches and he really couldn't do anything physical."

Anzac Day was the highlight of the Brisbane veteran's year.

"He'd go to the Dawn Service and the big march with all his mates and get quite relaxed and cheerful," Mr Dalziel said. "He loved meeting up with everybody."

Although more than half a century has passed since Harry's death in 1965 Mr Dalziel still wonders what prompted the act of heroism.

"I don't think I would have done it," he said. "I [wonder] would he do it again if he had the opportunity or was it just a spur of the moment thing where he thought he was going to die anyway so he might as well do something. I don't know. I don't think he knew."

Harry Dalziel's children put their father's medals and memorabilia up for auction in 2010. The collection was bought by philanthropist Kerry Stokes for $525,000.

Mr Stokes donated the medals to the Australian War Memorial and they are now on display in the Hall of Valour.