Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

FLGOFF Robert Wentworth BYRNES 463 Squadron

NF443427 Private Kathleen MICHAEL

TX11229 Private Roy Absolom

Memorial Panel RSL Memorial Hall Ground Floor

The Farina War memorial

Crimerian Cannons

36211 Gunner Ralph French, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade

Off Sumba Island, Netherlands East Indies. 1945-01-15. The crew of the disabled Catalina aircraft, serial no. A24-96, code RK-E of No. 42 Squadron RAAF in their dinghies preparing to move across to the Catalina aircraft of No. 43 Squadron RAAF which came to rescue them. The aircraft had come down near Japanese held territory. On the night of 14 January 1945, during a mission to Surabaya, a plane from No. 42 Squadron RAAF, captained by Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Harrigan, experienced trouble with its port engine and immediately began to lose altitude. At the time Flt Lt Harrigan was flying at 300 feet below heavy cloud off Sumba Island. He jettisoned his mines, but the plane continued to lose altitude and he was forced to alight on the open sea. The hull of the Catalina aircraft was damaged and began to leak. However, the water was kept down by baling. Using the radio-telephone, the crew was able to make its position known to returning minelayers. All night they worked on the faulty engine, but without success. However, in the morning, a Catalina aircraft of No. 43 Squadron RAAF, captained by Flt Lt Ortlepp, landed in the heavy swell, covered by a Liberator aircraft, and took off Flt Lt Harrigan's crew. Flt Lt Ortlepp then destroyed the disabled Catalina aircraft with machine-gun fire and returned safely to base.

The battered hulk of the SMS Emden after it was beached on North Keeling Island

Lieutenant Esson Rule 50th Bn Australian Infantry Died on 3rd April 1917 aged 22 Son of William and Ida Rule Born at Aberdeen, Burra, New South Wales Grave: A 24

A crashed Beaufort A9-467 lies in a field 15 miles west of Bundaberg, following a mid air collision with Beaufort A9-436. The aircraft were from No. 32 Squadron. Both crews, a total of eight men, died in the accident. This image is from the collection of 23650 Sergeant Clifford Vernon James Potter RAAF, who served as a photographer with 8 Service Flying Training School, Bundaberg, Queensland.

AE2 and AE2 alongside at Garden Island in Sydney 1914

A Consolidated Catalina aircraft (right), with the serial number A24-100 and code number RK-L of 42 Squadron, RAAF, piloted by 401846 Pilot Officer (PO) (later Flying Officer (FO)) Clifford Dent Hull of Hawthorn, Vic. After completing a successful mine laying operation off Macassar (Celebes) Harbour on the night of 23 & 24 October 1944, the starboard engine of this aircraft was damaged by Japanese anti aircraft (AA) fire. Unable to maintain height on his return and with the second engine failing, PO Hull made a forced landing in the open sea south of the South Western Celebes Peninsula. He and his crew spent the next twelve hours on the water uncomfortably close to four Japanese airfields based in Southern Celebes, before a second Catalina (left), OX-U of 43 Squadron, RAAF, arrived to rescue PO Hull and his crew. A rubber dingy is visible transferring the downed crew to the rescue aircraft. A United States B24 Liberator bomber located the downed Catalina and guided the rescue Catalina in. The B24 continued to circle overhead providing protection. After the disabled Catalina had been sunk by machine gun fire, the rescue Catalina took off and returned safely to Darwin. This operation was one of the epic sea rescues of the Second World War, entailing a round trip of 1800 miles mainly through Japanese held territory. The rescue crew were: 415632 FO (later Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt, DFC)), Armand Andre Etienne (Captain), of West Perth, WA; 408409 FO (later Flt Lt), Ian McCallister Robson of Sandy Bay, Tas; 428809 Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) (later Warrant Officer (WO)), John Joseph Sweeney (Navigator), of Newcastle, NSW, (visible standing on the wing of the rescue aircraft); 428832 Flt Sgt (later WO), Raymond Victor Tumeth of Haberfield, NSW; 428360 Flt Sgt (later WO), Derek Fanshawe Robertson of Camberwell, Vic; 12912 Sergeant (Sgt) (later PO), Robert Richard Tingman of Brighton, Vic; 12223 Sgt (later Flt Sgt), Albert Leslie Warton of Sydney, NSW; A2398 Sgt, Thomas Roy Elphick of Bondi, NSW; 33642 Corporal, James Francis Burgess Oliver of Glen Innes of NSW.

Ground crew arming a 42 Squadron 'Cat' with mines, PBY-5A Catalina A24-101/RK-G at Lleyte June 1945. Note the USN Martin Mariner in the background.

A memorial to the 460 Squadron crew lost on 13th June 1943

The explosion of the MV Neptuna and clouds of smoke from oil storage tanks, hit during the first Japanese air raid on Australia's mainland, at Darwin on February 19, 1942. In the foreground is HMAS Deloraine, which escaped damage.

This is the ex-passenger liner, HMAT (A11) Ascanius which is the ship that William left on. He was probably on the ship when this photo was taken. People are throwing streamers that are connecting them to the ship.

10185 Jack Reed striking a dapper pose

British gunnes try to drag an 18 pounder gun out of the mud. This photo was taken in August 1917, before winter rains set in and made the task of deploying artillery almost impossible.

George Arthur Debnam, Phoebe Debnam and their son, George Parkman Debnam. This is a compsite image. George Parkman DOW Gallipoli September 1915, before his father enlisted, aged 50, in February 1917. He survived the War

13367 Cpl Thomas Andrew HEWISH

This is a disturbing image of a destroyed German trench. In the foreground the limp bodies of dead German soldiers lie amidst the rubble. It is difficult to distinguish the soldiers from the chaos around them, but three bodies are clearly visible. One man, wearing a helmet, has been pushed forward by the blast and, although dead, appears to crouch forward. The entire scene is a maelstrom of mud, splintered wood and dead bodies. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Messines_-_destroyed_German_trench.jpg

1986 Simpson Trophy - Winning Team 10RSAR Team1. L-R Capt Graham"Growler" Growden, Sgt Wayne Birch and Capt Steve Larkins. Dean Range Port Adelaide

Unexploded WW1 artillery shells exposed by the grading of the road adjacent to Courcelette Cemetery. Vast numbers of these are recovered every year from farmland in Flanders and France.

The mangled ruins of part of the light railway after a direct hit on a trainload of ammunition. Amidst the debris are damaged shell cases. The light railway was used to transport casualties and supplies within the Ypres area. From Birr Cross Roads casualties were transferred to motor ambulances to be transported to the advanced dressing stations on the Menin Road. Note in the background a line of motor lorries.

CPL W.M. JOLUIS, RADIOLOGIST AT WORK AT 106 CASUALTY CLEARING STATION. HE IS X-RAYING THE WOUNDED KNEE OF V64795 PRIVATE J. P. SPORN, 7TH BATTALION AMF WHO WAS WOUNDED AT WEARNE'S HILL.

Howard Pope is presented with the French Legion d'Honeur at the Australian National Memorial, Villers Bretoneaux, France as part of ceremonies marking the 80th Anniversary of the cessation of Hostilities in the Great War

Bancourt British War Cemetery entrance portal.

Milne Bay, Papua. 1942-09. Commanding Officers of famous RAAF squadrons. Left to right:- Wing-Commander J.R. Balmer, commanding No 100 Squadron, the first Australian Beaufort torpedo-bomber squadron to go into action; Squadron Leader "Bluey" K.W. Truscott, commanding No 76 Kittyhawk Fighter Squadron; and Squadron Leader Les Jackson commanding No 75 Kittyhawk Fighter Squadron.

Etaples CWGC Cemetery - the largest in France. Most burials here had died of their wounds at various points along the casualty evacuation.

QLD. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of QFX22714 Captain Pauline Blanche (Blanche) Hempsted, 2/13th Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She was one of sixty five Australian nurses and over 250 civilian men, women and children evacuated on the Vyner Brooke from Singapore three dyas before the fall of Malaya. The Vyner Brooke was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sunk in Banka Strait on 14 February 1942. Of the sixty five nurses, twelve were lost at sea, twenty two survived the sinking and were washed ashore on Radji Beach, Banka Island, where they surrendered to the Japanese along with twenty five British soldiers. On 16 February 1942 the group was massacred, the soldiers were bayoneted and the nurses were ordered to march into the sea where they were shot. Only Sister Vivian Bullwinkel and a British soldier survived the massacre. Both were taken POW, but only Sister Bullwinkel survived the war. Sister Hempsted was one of the remaining thirty two nurses who also survived the sinking and were captured as POWs, eight of which later died in captivity. Sister Hempsted died of illness on 19 March 1945 in Sumatra. (Photograph copied from original photograph attached to attestation form, lent by Central Army Records Office.)

HMAT Ascanius at Outer Harbour embarking the 10th Battalion. State Library of SA B10303

Private VERE PARKINSON

Private Leslie Robert Templeman RH#26

AWM Image of three unidentified 7 Battalion men near a 'bomb' stop or barricade in the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, illustrating the overhead cover that had made the initial break-in so difficult.

Albert James DUNSTER's headstone at Trois Arbres Cemetery

The Noonan SA Police Heavyweight Boxing Championship Trophy Belt won by Tom Tobin 1938-1940. On display in Police Headquarters

Outdoor group portrait of six signallers in the snow. Identified back row, left to right: 19636 Gunner (Gnr) Reginald Sylvester Mason; 19822 Gnr Gilbert James Simmonds; 19657 Stanley Clarence Whiting; 19806 Gnr Lewis Ewen McKenzie (later MM). Front row, seated: 19616 Gnr Frank Orman Ball and 19634 Gnr Allan Lyle McPherson (later MM). These men embarked for service overseas with the 8th Field Artillery Brigade aboard HMAT Medic (A7) on 20 May 1916 (Gnrs McPherson, Whiting and Ball from Sydney and Gnrs McKenzie and Simmonds from Melbourne). Gnr Mason, a printer from Corrowa, NSW, prior to enlistment, died of wounds in Belgium on 27 September 1917, aged 22. The other five men survived the war.

Lieutenant Leonard Gurner of the 60th Bn AIF: KIA Morlicourt France 18 July 1918

Unidentified solder entering tunnel under Hill 60, near Ypres

Personnel from HMAS Sydney, Tobruk and Murchison marching along George St, Sydney on 6 March 1953. [AWM 304621] ...

Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery and in the distance the tower of the Australian National Memorial

Commemoration at VC Corner Cemetery. A guard of 10/27 RSAR July 1998 coincident with the opening of the Memorial Park at Fromelles.. Image Steve Larkins private collection

Colin Lawrence WRIGHT

Graham Leaver in camp at Heliopolis, Egypt in 1916

Robert Glendenning Jemison's 'Dead Man's Penny' in a circular wooden frame. In the collection of his Great Nephew, Bruce James-Martin. In a fascinating twist of fate, Bruce is a friend of John Wadlow, narrator of the accompanying story.