82-year-old veteran Paul Graham is celebrating the first Remembrance Day he hasn’t has to fight to have his Poppies on the Sails projected onto the Sydney Opera House.

The former president of Mascot RSL was grateful to see his poppies illuminate the  iconic landmark once again today, thanking the state government and Jim Wilson for his intervention.

“We’ll have some speeches, we’ll have a … pipe band, and the poppies.

“If that doesn’t bring a tear to people’s eyes, I don’t know what will.”

Mr Graham embraces Remembrance Day for what it teaches young Australians, but says more could be done to take tonight’s event wider.

“This thing could evolve to be a festival of remembrance in years to come … because we don’t do it all that well, we can do it a lot better.”

Press PLAY below to hear the full interview