A near century-old wrong will be righted at the Darwin Anzac centenary dawn service, when the names of 15 men who were killed in World War I will finally be added to the names of the fallen on the cenotaph.
Three bronze plaques containing the names of 15 diggers either killed in action or who died afterwards from war wounds will be unveiled in Darwin on Saturday morning.
This follows research carried out by the RSL last year that confirmed their rightful place on the cenotaph.
In 1915, 40 per cent of Darwin's 1000 men enlisted in the war, and 65 were killed in action, said Don Milford, president of the Darwin sub-branch of the NT RSL.
He said the original cenotaph was erected in 1923, at a time when it was very difficult to cross-check war records.
"We probably had a bunch of old veterans sitting around having a cup of tea, or maybe a beer, and they were nominating guys' names, and checking whether they were actually killed was very difficult," he told AAP.
In a prelude to the dawn service, photos will be projected onto the cenotaph from other dawn services around Australia and New Zealand, and Member for Solomon Natasha Griggs will say a few words on behalf of Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
NT Police expect more than 8000 people to attend the 6am CST dawn service and more than 12,000 to turn out for the march.
The newest contingent of US Marines will attend as part of their first official duty in the Northern Territory, and the New Zealand Navy contingent aboard the Endeavour, a refuelling and supply ship now in port in Darwin, will march.
There will be a Mass at St Mary's Cathedral at 7.30am before the parade begins at 9am through the CBD.
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