Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Brian Elwood Johnston Hirst

422424 Flying Officer Kenneth Roy Collier

A commemorative coin marking the 75th Anniversary of the loss of the SS Vyner Brooke

22862, Kevin Anthony GABRIEL (MID), , Unit: Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV)

A CH47 Chinook flies in a payload to the 102 Fd Bty LZ at FSB Coral

Officers and men of the 8th Battalion taking shelter behind a pillbox during an 'area strafe' at Railway Wood, in the Ypres Sector, whilst returning from the line. Identified, sitting at left, back row: Lieutenant (Lt) J O Pitt; Captain A G Campbell DSO. Front row: Lt T W Johnstone MC; Second Lieutenant P Lay MC DCM MM. Standing, left to right: 7150 Lance Corporal (LCpl) H J Gray, resting on shovel (killed in action 17 December 1917); 2936 Sergeant (Sgt) J T Pinchen MM; 2778 LCpl L A Scouller MM, behind Pinchen (killed in action 26 August 1918); 1111 Sgt J R Jorgenson; 6728 Pte R M Cullen. The soldier whose head can be seen top left is unidentified.

The crew of PO-E; 1. Herb Ferguson, 2. Bill Hancock, 3. Charlie Nash, 4. Bill Felstead, 5. John Mellor, 6. Cyril DuToit, 7. Brian Grasby

WW1 - Commemorative Medallion, known colloquially as the "Dead Man's Penny", presented to families of the Fallen together with a scroll signed by King George V. Over one million minted.

Bristol BeaufighterTF Mk X of No 455 Squadron RAAF line up on the runway at Dallachy, Scotland

David Leicester DFC and Bar

Ward at 2/4 Australian General Hospital, Labuan, Borneo 1945

Roy Hodgkinsons - war artist. Depicting an incident which happened whilst the artist was sitting on the beach at Oro Bay. Two Hudson's of the Royal Australian Air Force had taken off from Dobodura, with wounded and sick for general hospital. As soon as these planes were airbourne 14 Japanese Zeros first strafed the airship and then attacked the Hudsons, one of which shot down a Zero whilst the other was hotly chased by Zeros and eventually shot down, making a perfect belly landing on the sea. All patients were brought ashore safely with the exception of two stretcher cases who had been killed by Zero bullets. The rear gunner died from a wound in the lungs received during combat.

Group portrait of No. 4 Initial Training School, RAAF Course No. 22, A Squadron, Flight 13. Pugh is second from the left in the centre row.

Portrait of Pilot Officer (later Flight Lieutenant [Fl Lt]) 404487 Thomas John O’Donohue DFM, of 159 Squadron RAF, an Australian flying with the RAF in India. He had previously served with No 460 Squadron, RAAF in England, and took part in an air raid on the Matford Works at Poissy, France. Fl Lt O’Donohue was lost on operations over Burma on 29 February, 1944 and has no known grave.

QX10333 CPL Athol Bayly - SIgnatures of Sqn personnel in a group photo

PORTRAIT OF 405054 FLYING OFFICER B. W. KLEMM, BRISBANE, QLD, AN RAAF AIR GUNNER IN A MITCHELL MEDIUM BOMBER OF NO. 180 SQUADRON RAF WITH THE SECOND TACTICAL AIR FORCE.

Amos Austin BALDWIN

Portrait of 10 Sergeant (Sgt) Oscar Eric Baumann, 32nd Battalion. A joiner from Eastwood, South Australia, prior to enlistment he was rapidly promoted to Sergeant based on his previous military service with the 74th Infantry Citizen Military Forces. He embarked from Adelaide onboard HMAT Geelong on 18 December 1915 for Egypt and from there sailed to Marseilles, arriving on 23 June 1916. Sgt Baumann was reported missing in action at Fleurbaix during the Battle of Fromelles and his death on 20 July 1916 was confirmed through the Red Cross in Geneva; he was 20 years old. After the war his grave could not be located and he was commemorated on the VC Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France. In 2008 a burial ground was located at nearby Pheasant Wood containing the bodies of 250 British and Australian soldiers including Sgt Baumann. All of the remains were reburied in the newly created Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At the time of the official dedication of the new cemetery on 19 July 2010, ninety-six of the Australians had been identified through a combination of anthropological, archaeological, historical and DNA information. Work is continuing on identifying the other remains relocated from the burial ground and buried in the new cemetery as unknown soldiers. Sgt Baumann is among those who have not been identified and his name will remain on the VC Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial. AWM Image: H06303

Captain Joan Hempstead of the 2nd/13th Australian General Hospital

Sir Hughie Edwards medals and decorations: VC, DSO, OBE, DFC, 1939-45 Star, Aircrew Europe Star, Africa Star, Burma Star, Defence Medal, British War Medal 1939-45, General Service Medal (Malaya) clash, QE II Coronation Medal, QE II Silver Jubilee Medal. KCMG and CB are neck decorations not shown in this set.

Commemorative Plaque and Scroll signed by King George V, issued to the families of the Fallen

427870 Bernard Francis CODY taken at enlistment 1942

Memorial plaque to Thomas in the Victorian Garden of Remembrance at the Springvale War Cemetery.

Sister Ellen Keats, 2nd/10th Australian General Hospial

Informal portrait of officers of No. 13 Squadron, RAAF. From the left: 426311 Flying Officer (FO) Nurden Anderson Chowns, of Townsville, Qld; 423956 FO Charles George Watts, of Sydney, NSW; 22465 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) George Alexander Anderson, of Dalby, Qld; 425050 Flying Officer (FO) Bruce Lionel Poole, of Coorparoo, Qld. These airmen were four of six crew members on board Ventura aircraft A59-84 which took off from Gould Strip, Batchelor, NT, on the morning of 27 January 1945 and returned twenty minutes later requesting landing instructions. The aircraft, which it is believed was experiencing instrument failure, struck the ground during the approach, killing all on board.

JEH Butler's name on last shell fired from Anzac Cove, 12 December 1915

Distinguished Flying Medal Commendation

Most of the crew of Lancaster LL847 JO-D of 463 Squadron. Sgt Henry Fowler RAF far left,P/OFF Robert Byrnes RAAF, FLGOFF Kenneth Bennett 3rd from left (pilot). three remaining men not yet identified. Missing from this group is James OGILVIE RAAF who is believed to have flown as a trainee second pilot on the night the aircraft was lost. From ADF Serials site 463 Sqn. 15/03/44 to 17/12/44, JO-D. ORBS record 94 missions. First flown by RAAF Pilot F/O J H Dechastel & crew who completed a tour of 32 missions 30 of them in LL847. Also RAAF Pilot F/O K P Brady & crew completed a tour of 30 missions 28 of them in LL847. The last mission on 17/18-Dec-1944 was flown by Pilot K E H Bennett RAAF, 2nd Pilot F/O J H Ogilvie RAAF, F/Engineer F/S R G Nuttall RAF, Nav F/S S Easton RAF, B/Aimer F/S T N Watson RAF, Wireless Op F/S R W Byrnes RAAF, MU Gunner Sgt G A C Frizzell RAF, Rear Gunner Sgt H Fowler RAAF. Brady's gunners shot down an ME109 on 28-Jul-1944 & the rear gunner shot down a Donier 217 on 29/30 Aug-1944. Bennett's gunners shot down a JU88 on the 6/7-Dec-1944 while it was attacking another Lancaster.

EUBOEA ISLAND, GREECE. 1941-05-08. OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE 2/2ND AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY BATTALION NEAR THE VILLAGE OF PILI ON THE EVE OF THEIR DEPARTURE FROM THE ISLAND IN THE AEGEAN SEA AFTER ESCAPING FROM THE MAINLAND OF GREECE. THEY EVENTUALLY REJOINED THE AUSTRALIAN FORCES VIA TURKEY. FRONT ROW L TO R, PTE J.A.E. WHITTON, L SGT R.C. SMITH, PTE H.R. BROWN, PTE W. SCHOFIELD; BACK ROW, PTE M.J. SANDERS, CPL J.W.H. FULLER, CPL H.J. HONEYWELL, LT COL FRED O. CHILTON, CAPT CHARLES HERCULES GREEN, CAPT BRUCE BROCK, LT A.K. BOSGARD, CAPT A.A. BUCKLEY, CPL J. SHANAHAN.

429369 Flying Officer (FO) Richard Rodney (Rod) Young, 463 Sqn RAAF, of West Maitland, NSW at the controls of 'H' for How, about to depart on a raid on the Dortmund-Emms Canal in Germany. Just three weeks later he was flying JO-K when it was lost over Giessen, Germany

Ian Denver meets Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in 2012.

1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

"Six Snug Signallers" 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.

John Francis TUCKER's grave

916 Frederick Rawlings Pheasant Wood Cemetery Fromelles France

An Australian transport wagon, galloping along the road near Red Lodge, behind Hill 63, in Belgium, whilst the Germans were shelling the batteries of the Australian and New Zealand Artillery concentrated there for the battle of Messines, which opened on 7 June 1917. Note that enemy shelling has set fire the camouflage over the guns. The gunners may be observed endeavouring to put out the fire although the position was still being shelled.

Troops of an Australian Battalion on the deck of battleship Prince of Wales in Mudros Harbour just before the landing. The ship was part of the fleet which transported Australian troops to the Gallipoli landing at Anzac Cove. 24 April 1915. AWM A01829

SX4193 Private SMART, Gilby Roy; 2nd/27th Battalion

A trench at Lone Pine on 8 August 1915. The scene captures something of the savagery of the action. Sergeant Apear de Vine, 4th Battalion, NSW, of Maroubra, Sydney, wrote of the dead: … they are stacked out of the way in any convenient place sometimes thrown up on to the parados so as not to block the trenches, there are more dead than living … [De Vine, quoted in Bill Gammage, The Broken Years, Ringwood, 1990, p 84]

A group of nine midshipmen studying on board HMAS Australia in the presence of their instructor, Instructor Lieutenant Commander Charles Reed Franklin, RAN (standing). Midshipmen identified left to right: Midshipman Ross Valdar Wheatley, RAN; Midshipman Peter Corsar Anderson, RAN; Midshipman Francis Hoddinett Vail, RAN; Midshipman John Malet Armstrong, RAN (hidden at rear); Midshipman Robert Cameron Casey, RAN (rear); Midshipman Norman Hamon Shaw, RAN; Midshipman Joseph William Morgan, RAN; Midshipman Gilbert Tootal Broadhurst, RAN; Midshipman John Francis Rayment, RAN