War veterans and their families are pausing to reflect this Anzac Day, sharing their stories to commemorate the bravery of those who served.

Sister Olive Haynes volunteered as a nurse as war broke out in 1914, aged 26.

She was posted to Egypt and travelled to Lemnos Island, where she treated wounded diggers from Gallipoli.

She later served on the Western Front.

Marnie Watts, her granddaughter, explained why her grandmother wanted to help.

“She decided to train as a nurse, which in those days you could only do if you were relatively well off, because you have to pay for your on training, you have to pay for your ow board and keep while you were training, that was four years long,” she told Neil Breen.

“As it is when you enter the war, you have to take all of your own cutlery, crockery, chairs everything with you.”

She says back then, Australian nurses weren’t treated well by the British army.

When she was discharged when she married her husband, she had to pay her way to get back to Australia.

Press PLAY below to hear more of her story

Sister Olive’s story is being made public as part of a family history project known as the Australian War Stories by Memories, which allows Australians to search for people who served in war.

Images: Sister Olive Haynes and granddaughter Marnie Watts, supplied