A Vietnam veteran who ran into enemy fire to rescue a wounded comrade and retrieve the body of another has been awarded the nation’s highest military honour.

Private Richard Norden was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross on Monday, for putting his life on the line to save a wounded commander when his platoon came under heavy fire in 1968.

Announcing the award, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the 19-year-old private from Gundagai in regional NSW showed extraordinary courage.

It came on Remembrance Day, two years after Norden was recommended for the award.

“It has been more than 56 years since fierce fighting at Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral saw 25 Australians killed and over 100 wounded. It would be Australia’s longest and deadliest battle of the Vietnam War,” Albanese said.

“The terrible toll would have been higher but for the courage of a 19-year-old private from Gundagai by the name of Richard Norden.”

Albanese said Norden advanced under heavy fire to rescue his wounded section commander. Wounded himself, he ran back into the gunfire to help another injured soldier.

“On discovering his comrade had been killed, he fought on, clearing the area so his body could be safely recovered,” Albanese said.

“Such was his courage, that the enemy soldiers abandoned their positions and, as a result, many more Australian lives were saved.”

Norden returned from the war to join the Australian Federal Police in Canberra. He died on duty in a motorcycle accident in 1972.

Albanese joined Governor-General Sam Mostyn, veterans and their representatives, Australian Defence Force chief, politicians and High Court chief justice to lay wreaths at the stone of remembrance at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Monday.

The minute’s silence at 11am marked the 106th anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement that ended the Great War in Europe, where more than 60,000 Australians died.

Australians who gave their lives had done so to make a difference in the world, Albanese said as he thanked all veterans.

“From trench to desert to jungle to sea, every place they stood and every place they fell is mapped out in our hearts in an atlas of loss and sacrifice,” he said.

“We remember every name, every face, every future lost and every future changed forever.”

Mostyn commemorated Remembrance Day, also known as Armistice Day, by remembering the more than 100,000 Australians who lost their lives in WWI and ensuing conflicts.

“Each year, we tender our tribute anew to the generations of servicemen and women who have died or suffered for Australia in conflicts far from home,” she said.

“And so it is, our Remembrance Days are born of all the days of commemoration that have gone before.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said Australia remembered the fallen “so we don’t forget who we are”.

Red poppies mark the armistice because the small flower began to bloom on blood-soaked battlefields across Europe after years of unprecedented slaughter.

“Those poppies became a symbol of sacrifice and hope, we still cherish them as our flower of remembrance,” Defence Minister Richard Marles said.

Melbourne’s commemoration took on extra significance, marking the 90th anniversary of the Shrine of Remembrance.

The Shrine was originally opened in 1934 and illuminated on Monday to read the word ‘love’ at 11am – the moment the Armistice was signed.

“As we mark the Shrine’s 90th anniversary, we are reminded the values of courage, sacrifice and service are as relevant now as they were nearly a century ago,” Shrine CEO Dean Lee said.

“In a time when global events call for reflection on peace, security, and shared humanity, the Shrine’s role in fostering remembrance has never been more vital.”

The Opera House in Sydney was illuminated with images of poppies at dawn ahead of a service at the Martin Place Cenotaph.

RSL Queensland said there would be more than 140 events at its sub-branches, the highest in three years. Its official service was held at Brisbane’s ANZAC Square.

RSL WA called for DNA donations to try to help identify unnamed fallen soldiers from a battalion that took part in one of WWI’s most devastating battles.

The 32nd Battalion fought in July 1916 and 718 soldiers were wounded or killed. More than 70 bodies found in a mass grave in France in 2008 are yet to be identified.

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-with AAP