Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Arthur Bruce Durdin, MC and on the right is Major Karl Friederichs. Captain Durdin survived the war but Karl Friedrichs was killed in action by shellfire on 21 April near Dernancourt, France during defensive operations against the German Spring Offensive.

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.

Newspaper article detailing Tom Flynn's tragic demise

Tom Flynn as a member of the victorious 1913 Waikerie football team

Reuben Starr, member of the victorious 1913 Waikerie team that defeated Morgan in the Grand Final

A M2A2 105mm howitzer fires in support of 1 RAR from FSB Coral

3RAR’s Regimental Sergeant Major, Vince Murdoch, tends a wounded and blindfolded North Vietnamese soldier at Balmoral.

Bell UH 1 "Iroquois", more familiarly known as 'Hueys' dropping supplies at FSB Coral

3RAR’s Regimental Sergeant Major, Vince Murdoch, tends a wounded and blindfolded North Vietnamese soldier at Balmoral.

A SQN in Syria

Avenue of Honour Bacchus Marsh postcard, ca 1950

Robert Stanley PILLAR's headstone Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney

Wirraways of No. 2 SFTS, c. July 1941; No. 7 SFTS also operated the type, and inherited aircraft from No. 2 SFTS when it disbanded in April 1942

418913 Flying Officer Norman Jack Bowman

Sketch map, the action at Isurava, 29 August 1942

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.

Corporal Philip Ness "Doc" Dobson, MID.

A picture of Geroge Harriot that appears to show his rank as Lieutenant and thus taken some time before April 1917 when he was promoted Captain.

The entrance to Becourt Military cemetery

A diagram of the Barrage Plan for the Australian Corps advance. The barrage was fired on preset timings without the benefit of radio communications so advancing troops had to be careful not to get too close to, or be left behind by the line of the creeping barrage. The level of complexity of such a plan epitomises the sophistication of Artillery by this stage of the war. Each battery of guns would be using different firing data on a relentless schedule from their many and varied locations in order to achieve this effect on the ground.

Australian Engineers, of the 15th Field Company, making crosses for their fallen comrades amid the ruins of Ypres. Out of the ancient oak, which formed the doors and interior fittings of the historic Cloth Hall, pounded to wreckage by German bombardments, they fashioned many monuments to the men who made the supreme sacrifice. 31 October, 1917.

A Bell UH 1H Iroquois (aka "Huey") of No. 5 Squadron

Grave marker of eleven members of the 21st Battalion who were all killed in action at Mont St Quentin, France on 1 September 1918 and buried in a mass grave. Listed on the plaque are: 6817 Sergeant Colin Edward Hunt from Surrey Hills, Victoria; 2116 Lance Corporal (L Cpl) Albert Henry Blackmore, MM from North Maldon, Victoria; 5413 L Cpl Gustaf William Oscar Staaf from Echuca, Victoria; 6833 Private (Pte) Albert Edwin Kelly from Ballarat, Victoria; 6874 Pte Francis William Roberts from Upper Hawthorn, Victoria; 6380 Pte Alfred Roy Smerdon, from Murrayville, Victoria; 6178 Pte William Hugh Thorburn from Newtown, NSW; 664A Pte Edwin Werrett Thompson from Colac, Victoria; 6747 Pte William Francis Dowell from Thornbury, Victoria; 6781 Pte David George Gregory Chandler from North Williamstown, Victoria; and 6398 Pte Alexander Walker from Rochester, Victoria. The above listed were all later moved to individual graves in the Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, France.

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

Flight Sergeant Roy Wamsleys grave, Blacon Cemetery, Chester, United Kingdom

Military Medal Citation

Harold Bourke's grave at Pheasant Wood

Eric Slade approximate age 19 Farmer and Loving Husband and Father

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

Prowse Point Cemetery taken from its neighbour Mud Corner

Reginald Alfred Charles HEALEY 54th Battalion

Australian delegates at the Japanese surrender ceremony on board USS Missouri. Left to right: (back row) Captain J. Balfour; Lieutenant Colonel D. H. Dwyer; Air Vice Marshal G. Jones; Lieutenant General F. H. Berryman; Commodore J. A. Collins. Front row: Rear Admiral G. Moore; General Sir Thomas Blamey (who signed for Australia) and Air Vice Marshal W. D. Bostock.

P40 Kittyhawks on the 2 OTU flight line

A page from a Stokes Mortar training pamphlet, illustrating the key features of the Stokes Mortar. Baseplate to absorb recoil, adjustable bipod to 'lay' the mortar on the required bearing and elevation, and the tube or barrel. Its cylindrical bomb was inherently unstable and its 'always' fuze was necessary to ensure detonation. Later developments saw the introduction of fin stabilised bombs which with the weapon itself, evolved into the 3 inch mortar used in WW2.

Gunners of the 2nd/4th Field Regiment with one of their short 25 pounder pack howitzers prepared for air dropping at Nadzab New Guinea September 1943.

The pilot of a Handley-Page Halifax of No. 35 Squadron in his position prior to take-off at Linton-On-Ouse, Yorkshire. Date between circa 1940 and circa 1942

3495A Gunner (Gnr) Harold Constantine 5th DAC

Two men of the 7th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery operate a mortar established in a machine gun post on the new front line near Villers-Bretonneux. From left to right: 1916 Lance Corporal A J Ellis and 2700 Private A Lawler. Photograph taken 10 July 1918.

Following the success of Le Hamel on 4 July, and the August offensive 8-11 August, King George V, who had been one of Monash's advocates, visited the Australian Corps Headquarters at Chateau Bertangles on 12 August. A display of some of the captured war material was on display along with a large turnout of troops.

Jim Whalley's Boomerang A46-63 on short finals

"Six Snug Signallers" a group of 29th Battery signallers - Front row Bombadier Frank Ball and Allan McPherson

No. 625 Squadron, RAF based in Yorkshire. Flying Officer Ian Denver, DFC, RAAF, front row, fourth from left. He is wearing the distinctive darker blue uniform of the RAAF in WW2. Denver and his crew flew 16 missions before being transferred to No. 156 (Pathfinder) Squadron, where they flew a further 32 together.

39-45 Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal (UK service), 39-45 British War Medal, 39-45 Australian War Medal

A dugout in the Tobruk area with ships ventilators or 'punkas' erected by the Australian Engineers in occupation

FSgt George Hale, 77 Squadron, and his aircraft "Halestorm", one of very few Meteor pilots to get the better of the Mig 15s over Korea. The effect of the muzzle blast from the two 20mm cannon mounted either side of the nose is clearly evident.

S/N 1 Lt Edward Addy pth Australian Infantry Battalion is remembered on the Catfield War Memorial, the village of his birth.

S/N 1 LT Edward Addy, 9th Australian Infantry Battalion Pieta Cemetery Malta

The pilot (on the right) and Flight Engineer of a No. 149 Squadron Vickers Wellington bomber in 1941

c. 1943. Studio portrait of 411768 Sergeant J. S. Freeth who flew with 455 Squadron. He was credited with sinking a submarine with depth charges in April 1943. He was killed in a flying accident on 24 May 1943. This hand coloured photograph is set in a gold brooch (REL25225) that is inscribed on the back with "To dear John Freeth's mother with regard from his friends at Angus and Coote 1944". Mrs Freeth had refused to give up hope that her son had survived, and it was hoped that by giving her this brooch that she would come to accept his death. (Donor D. Freeth).

A flight of three Lockheed Hudson aircraft from No. 23 Squadron RAAF based at Amberley in 1941. Nearest camera is A16-3 flown by 22 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Phillip Walter Howson, OBE. In the centre is A16-38, flown by 251607 Flying Officer (FO) Edward Andrew Dorward, and at rear, A16-47, flown by 260518 FO Oscar George Diethelm. A16-38, was later issued to No. 32 Squadron. Flown by Wing Commander Deryck Kingwell, it was badly shot up in New Guinea on 31 March 1942. After repair it was issued to No. 1 Operational Training Unit (1 OTU), Bairnsdale, Vic, when it was flown during a press demonstration at Bairnsdale, on 27 October 1942 by Flt Lt Frank Tampion, lost its starboard mainplane and crashed and burned 'in shot' of Fox Movietone and Cinesound Newsreel cameraman Geoff Thompson. The film was impounded and used in the subsequent enquiry, which eliminated the rumour that undetected corrosion caused by an undetected Japanese bullet hole was responsible; the cause was determined to be a poorly repaired mainplane. In the interim, however, eighteen 1 OTU Hudsons were withdrawn during November 1942 for mainplane replacement. All four Lockheed Hudson photographs (AC0058, AC0066 AC0067 and AC0068) were taken by Flt Lt John Harrison from Wirraway A20-115, flown by Commanding Officer of 23 Squadron, regular officer 80 Squadron RAAF Leader Dixie Robison Chapman. Of note is the unusual, small RAAF serial applied to the tailplanes of A16-3. A16-3 was on strength with 1 OTU when the unit was called on at short notice to provide aircraft for the air supplying of allied troops at Buna. A group of twelve Hudsons was formed, known as 1 OTU Detached Flight, including A16-3, flown from Bairnsdale to Ward's Drome at Port Moresby, and began operations on 14 December 1942, flying over the Owen Stanley Mountain Range to drop supplies at Soputa and, later, landing at Dobodura. Flown by Flt Lt Neville Hemsworth, with Sergeant Bert Rodd and Flight Sergeants Robert Bamber and Henry Stephens as crew, A16-3, taking off from Dobodura with four wounded infantry aboard at 11.00 am on 26 December, was attacked by several Ki-43 Oscars from the 11th Sentai and chased south to Hariko. An incendiary bullet started a fire and Hemsworth ditched the Hudson into Oro Bay near Hariko, resulting in the drowning of the two stretcher bound wounded. A US Navy PT Boat picked up the survivors, but Stephens died of burns the next day, while Hemsworth was badly burned about the face and arms and Bamber wounded by gunfire. The ditching was witnessed and sketched by Official War Artist Roy Hodgkinson (who comments that the Hudson made 'a perfect belly landing on the sea') and appears in the Memorial's collection as ART21695. A16-47 was attached to the RAAF's Survey Flight in early 1944, then based at Lowood, Queensland. On 23 July 1945, A16-47, crewed by Flt Lt Lance Clarke, FO Thomas Steel and Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Frank Chiverton, and carrying as passengers the Flight's new Commander, Squadron Leader Nigel Pilcher plus unit members Corporal Bill Gaze and LAC Walter Nielson and Squadron Leader Cuthbert Griffin, departed for Bowen to visit the Flight's Anson detachment. They never arrived and despite a week long search, were never located.