Victoria Cross hero Daniel Keighran has always known courage under dire circumstances.
Decades before he would become a national treasure, Keighran grew up on dirt floors with no mains electricity and no money.
Born in Nambour and raised in Lowmead - a small town about 80km from Bundaberg in regional Queensland - Keighran's life could have so easily gone down a different path.
Keighran's fight against the Taliban took him around the world, including East Timor, Malaysia, Iraq and Afghanistan
Daniel Keighran, who received the Victoria Cross after serving in the Middle East, proposed to Casey Nixon at the Magic Millions Raceday, on the Gold Coast, in January last year
The first person he ever knew to be shot was his own father - who arrived on his doorstep for the first time after vanishing a decade earlier.
Out of the blue, he hooked back up with Keighran's mum and the family all moved from the Sunshine Coast out into the wilderness.
Still, Keighran counts himself lucky.
He had a loving mother and his one male constant was his grandfather - a World War II veteran.
By the time Keighran would make his mark on Australian history aged just 27, he had been in the army 10 years and served in East Timor, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The Battle of Derapet took place in Afghanistan on August 24, 2010.
I was a leader on the ground, so I stood up and led from the front - the only way I could do that was by drawing enemy fire to myself.
Keighran had been on the ground as part of 'Operation Slipper'.
The young corporal had been on patrol with the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, when he and his Afghan patrol were overrun with Taliban fighters.
For near on four hours the battle raged in which which time Keighran repeatedly exposed himself to heavy enemy fire to help identify targets and clear the wounded.
He would lose close mate Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney in the battle.
'I don't think what I did was really brave. It was what was required at the time,' he would say of his actions that day.
In 2012, Keighran became the third recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia when Governor-General Quentin Bryce presented him with the medal.
On Tuesday, Keighran was among veterans to attend the dawn service at Currumbin in Queensland.
Corporal Daniel Keighran VC and his wife Kathryn meet Queen Elizabeth II during an audience with her at Buckingham Palace on November 06, 2013 in London
Daniel Keighran is warded the Victoria Cross in 2012
Speaking to Sunrise, Keighran again paid tribute to his grandfather, whom he credits with keeping him on the straight and narrow during his formative years.
'I was very fortunate to have someone in my life who inspired me and I looked up to them and they were my hero and that person was my grandfather,' he said.
Keighran had always shared a special bond with his grandfather, whom would teach him about how to safely use firearms during fishing trips when he was a teenager.
It wasn't until Keighran enlisted with the Australian Defence Force at age 17 that his beloved grandfather began to tell him about the highs and lows of the war he had witnessed.
The World War II artillery sergeant had shelled his own troops through misinformation during the war and lived out his life dealing with the trauma of that incident.
When Keighran's father returned out of the blue, after abandoning his family
