WHEN St Kilda players set foot on Westpac Stadium on April 25, there will be a unique connection to a powerful Australian war story.

Tasmanian farmer and labourer Alfred Edward Gaby only lived 26 years but his memory remains through both his heroic deeds on the battle field and also through a family connection to young Saint Maverick Weller.

Weller’s great great great grandfather on his mother’s side was Reginald Gaby – the brother of Alfred who has gone down in history as an Australian military legend.

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Gaby was killed in action at age 26 in Lihons, France but only after embarking on an extraordinary act of bravery that saw him acknowledged with Australian military’s highest honour.

Gaby was serving as a lieutenant in the 28th Battalion and acting as commander of his battalion’s ‘D’ Company, which was committed to an attack around Villers-Bretonneux, France during the Battle of Amiens.

The sequence of events that led him to winning his Victoria Cross was one of the most successful large-scale actions that Australians were ever engaged in.

In a lone attack, he managed his way through the barbed-wire and drove the enemy off, capturing four machine-guns and 50 men. He then led the company on to its objective, earning himself a Victoria Cross – Australia’s highest military honour.

Three days later, while walking along the line to encourage his men, he was shot by a sniper and his life came to an end on August 11, 1918 at age 26.

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Gaby’s is a story that has gone down in folklore from generation to generation.

Weller says it was a story that he had known about but not in great detail until late last year the Saints sent a group of 1-4 year players to Canberra for a leadership camp.

A visit to the war memorial gave him the chance to further study his ancestor’s legacy.

“As a family we have always been really proud of him but I never really knew a lot about him until that trip,” Weller said.

“To think that he only had a couple of bullets left but he basically took on everyone and saved the whole platoon. He was pretty outnumbered and it was amazing that he did what he did.”

Maverick’s mother Judith Weller (nee Gaby) said she had taken it upon herself to teach the legacy of her great great uncle to her family.

“It’s a pretty amazing story the more you look at it. We had Mav back home just recently and I made sure he read up on it because it’s so significant,” she said.

As Australia’s servicemen and women are remembered at next month’s Anzac Day Centenary, Judith will take the time to remember her ancestor’s contribution.

But she may also have to be forced to make a difficult decision around the day after her other son Lachlan was drafted by Fremantle at last year’s National Draft.

On April 25, the Dockers will be hosting the Sydney Swans at Domain Stadium in Perth – the same day that the Saints will be playing in Wellington, New Zealand against Carlton, though Weller will miss the match with a calf strain.