Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

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.

AE2 and AE2 alongside at Garden Island in Sydney 1914

This is an image of crowds watching the South Australian troops march past. The photo was taken in 1914.

PBY Catalinas on the hardstanding at No. 1 FBRD at Lake Boga in Victoria

Back row L-R Malcolm McGhie 10Rft/15th Bn later 4MGCoy and 47th Bn, Jack Judd 12Rft 15th Bn, then 47th Bn and 59th Bn, Gregory Gibson 12Rft 15th Bn then 47Bn, killed at Dernancourt 28/3/18 and buried at Doullens, John Watson 11Rft 15th Bn KIA Bullecourt 11/4/17. Middle Albert Morgan 10Rft 15th Bn, then 47th Bn and Australian Flying Corp, Ernest Corbett, later 46th Bn, Walter Fish, Edmund Hurd 11Rft later 47th Bn and 45th Bns. Front Lennard Wadsley 13Rft 15th Bn then 52nd Bn KIA 10/9/16 Mouquet Farm, Robert Luxton 13Rft KIA 11/4/17 Bullecourt.

6393 Sapper John Frederick BOARDMAN

Common Grave 294 - Lancaster ME -755 'AR-Z'

NX3689 Oliver Edward Ward known to his family as "Chubby" or "Uncle Chubb" - photo believed to have been taken in Egypt in 1941

Wing Commander Bob McINtosh, AFC OAM MiD, Member SA Veterans Advisory Council

Two unidentified gunners sitting beside a 4.5 inch howitzer Mark I in a gun pit of the 102nd Australian Howitzer Battery in northern France. Each man is holding a shell

Private Roy Absolom

This Australian soldier’s skull has extensive damage caused by bullet wounds sustained in the Battle of Passchendale (or Third Ypres, Battle of Polygon Wood) in the First World War. He was shot on September 28, 1917. Most of the damage was caused by a lead bullet that entered the mouth and passed through the palate and right eye. Shrapnel destroyed the ascending ramus of the right jaw, and another bullet, visible here, struck the left frontal sinus. Philadelphia opthalmologist and surgeon WT Shoemaker treated this soldier at a battlefield hospital in France. This soldier survived his initial injuries and treatments. But, five days after his injuries, blind and disoriented, he pulled out the bandage materials in his mouth that packed the wounds. He bled to death. Mutter Museum Philadelphia

The iconic image of the Kokoda campaign. Taken by Damien Parer, it portrays members of the 39th Militia Battalion, AMF, parade after weeks of fighting in dense jungle during the Kokoda campaign. The officer in front is Lieutenant Johnson. The men behind him are left to right, Armie Wallace, Bill Sanders, Harry Hodge, Kevin Surtees, George Cudmore, GeorgePuxley Kevin Whelan, Len Murrell, Dick Secker, Neil Graham, Clive Gale and Jack Boland.

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

Survived 3 years in France in WW1. Wounded and recovered to go back for more. Promoted to Lieutenant. Sadly passed away in 1971

Studio portrait of Captain (Capt) Ronald Gilbert Horwood MM (left) and Capt Clarence Everard Pellew (right). Paris, France. October-December 1918

1087 Private Thomas Carrican

The best tunnelling conditions were in the great chalk seams running across northern France. Excavation generally had to be conducted with great care to conceal t he diggings and where in the proximity of enemy miners, to prevent detection by listening devices. Men of the 3rd Australian Company excavating a chamber in the chalk in the Hulluch subway system. The chalk was dug out with miners' picks and filled into bags. These bags were trucked along the gallery to suitable positions, hauled to the surface and emptied at night. In places where the chalk crumbled, the walls had to be revetted, as is seen on the left. Identified left to right: Captain R. J. Langton MC, Officer Commanding, No. 1 Section (holding bag); 1194 Sapper (Spr) D. C. Vecchia; 6772 Spr C. A. L. Robinson, all members of the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company.

One of the ship’s assault landing craft, viewed from the aft gun platform of the landing ship infantry Westralia, as it swung aboard during the movement of the 2/24 Infantry Battalion troops, Morotai, 18 April 1945.

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

935 Private Frank Oliver SCUTT 43rd Battalion RH#15

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] ...

Photograph of Flying Officer Jack Paradise and his crew 20 March 1944

Unveiling of Stonehaven War Memorial

E Regiment at Gawler Army Camp

Crimerian Cannons

'G for George' is perhaps the best known WW II aircraft in Australia. It has been the centerpiece of the AWM since it was installed in 1955. The aircraft is a Mk1 Lancaster that served for 17 months with 460 Squadron, from 1942 until April 1944, completing 89 missions before being flown to Australia as part of a War Bond fundraising campaign. It famously flew under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

ANZAC Cove

Richard FETHERSTON - Postcard to work colleagues from Cairo

Korea, 1952-05. Three officers from 'A' Company, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), share a bottle of beer in a reserve area. The soldiers are (left to right): Captain Brian Poananga, a New Zealander serving with the battalion; 3/40105 Lieutenant Gilmer John (Gil) Lucas MC; 3/395 Major Jeffrey James (Jim) Shelton MC, the company commander. A graduate of the Royal Military College (RMC) Duntroon, Captain Poananga later became Chief of the General Staff (CGS) in the Royal New Zealand Army (RNZA).

The victorious 1913 Waikerie Football team taken after they won the Grand Final against Morgan. Having won it for the third time in succession they 'retired' the trophy as was the practice at the time.

WCDR John Balmer, while CO of No. 100 Squadron RAAF September 1942. Later CO of No. 467 Squadron, lost on Ops.

Discharge Certificate (original) Edward Hewlett, 43 Bn AIF

Gordon Jury

Group Captain Hughie Edwards VC DSO DFC meeting the Prime Minister of Australia at RAAF Binbrook where Edwards was the Base Commander and RAAF No. 460 Squadron was based.

Thomas Yapp's medal set: British War medal Victory Medal

NX30482 Gunner Henry "Dick" Hulin, 2nd / 4th Field Regiment 2nd AIF

An informal portrait of 219689 Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Damien Healy standing in front of a Mixed Military Working Group (MMWG) briefing map which displays the legend 'Peace For Cambodia' and shows the location of United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC)s military contingents. The MMWG had been formed by the United Nations Advance Mission in Cambodia (UNAMIC) with the intention of providing a high-level forum for all four Cambodian military factions and the UN's military representatives, and first met on 28 December 1991. It continued under the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). An experienced military negotiator, Lt Col Healy was MMWG's Chief Liaison Officer and the only Australian representative. He received a Conspicuous Service Cross for his work in Cambodia.

Flying Officer Robert McKerlie Croft

Art Work of Halifax crew at Driffield U.K. by Stella Bowen (Jack Venning top left)

Pembroke Dock, Wales. C. 1942. Crew of aircraft "A for Apple" of No. 461 (Sunderland) Squadron RAAF based at an RAF Station. Back row, left to right: 405083 Sergeant (Sgt) A. Miller; 401562 Sgt R. Hattam; 411426 Pilot Officer H. I. Dent; 403129 Flight Lieutenant B. Buls; 5942 Sgt A. J. Taylor; 405206 Sgt E. B. Gallagher; 6241 Sgt R. Tucker. Front row: Four members of the RAF.

Stonehaven War Memorial Panel

Photograph appears on p. 27 of The Queenslander Pictorial, supplement to the Queenslander, 13 November, 1915... Courtesy of Faithe Jones

Commissioned by the 28th Batttalion and 24th Anti-Tank Company Association Inc. as part of the Australian War Memorial’s Plaque Dedication Program.

A de Havilland Mosquito FB1 of No. 464 Squadron RAAF