Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8015762

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8016605

2017_Abbie_Nourse_Frederick_John_Schenscher.pdf

2017_Metala_Burgess_Claude_Vivian_Radford.pdf

Godlee.pdf

Guide_to_Reading_a_WW2_Service_Record.pdf

LHS Plaque at St Peters Heroes Memorial

The graves of 9 aircrew (4 RAAF, 5 RAF) lost in the air raid on Lille 10/11 May 1944

Showing Slater's Knoll a week after the Japanese attacked on the morning of 5 April 1945. The front had now been pushed forward and life was quiet again on Slater's Knoll; the 25th Australian Infantry Battalion had just vacated the position and it was now occupied by troops of 'B' Company, 58/59 Australian Infantry Battalion. This work was painted with the simple object of showing life in a dug-in forward position, and gives an idea of many other sites where the infantry had been dug in for some time. The latrine with a 4-gallon oil drum serving as a seat, would be out in the open, away from the tents on the right, and food would be carried in dixies from the cook house, further back, and served to the men on the position. In the tents were two bunks made by using the canvas of the issued stretchers, supported by saplings. The legs of the stretchers were then stored in the Left Out of Battle (LOB) area, as they would be too bulky to carry. Pictured, is a Bren gun pit in the immediate left foreground where a lad is shown cleaning his weapon. There is a steep bank on the left of the picture, making a natural defence. This is actually at the rear of the site. As the Japanese attempted to take the knoll by force of numbers they approached up the gently sloping side to the right, beyond the limit of the painting. The Bren gun in the pit in the foreground supplied most effective cross fire. On the right can be seen part of a large bomb crater, made during the Japanese occupancy, and the uprooted trees cutting diagonally across the picture were evidently thrown up when the crater was made.

Studio portrait of 420870 Pilot Officer (PO) William Eldred Felstead, No. 467 Squadron, RAAF, of Sydney, NSW. A clerk prior to enlisting in December 1941, PO Felstead trained as a pilot in Australia, Canada and England with the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). On 10 May 1944, PO Felstead was piloting Lancaster LL788, radio call sign PO-G, which exploded and crashed while on operations over Lille, France. PO Felstead and the six other crew members on board were killed. PO Felstead was 22 years of age.

The sinking of troopship SS 'Ballarat' which took place on 25 April 1917 in the English Channel. A submarine torpedoed the 'Ballarat', which was carrying Australian troops from Melbourne to England. Efforts made to tow the ship to shallow water failed and she sank off The Lizard the following morning. No lives were lost of the 1752 souls on board.

In November 1967 a 9 Squadron Iroquois lands to pick up members of the 7th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR) during operation Santa Fe, a gruelling three week-long operation through inhospitable country some 23 kilometres from the Task Force Base at Nui Dat. [AWM COL/67/1127/VN]

THOMAS, David John, Service No: 561, Unit: 44th Infantry Battalion STRAND MILITARY CEMETERY Grave II. D. 9.

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.

Rosetta Joan Wight

NSW. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX76279 Sister Janet Kerr, 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 days 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 on board, twelve were lost as sea and thirty two survived the sinking and were captured as Prisoners of War (POWs) of which eight later died during captivity. Sister Kerr, aged 31, was one of the remaining twenty two nurses who also 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 Kerr was the daughter of Ida Maud Kerr of Woodstock, NSW. (Photograph copied from original photograph attached to attestation form, lent by Central Army Records Office.)

A medium trench mortar and crew of the 3rd Australian Medium Trench Mortar Battery, 2nd Division, in action in a farmhouse 400 yards from the German front lines. Gun position selected and made use of to support Infantry raid prior to attack on Morlancourt village. Left to right: Lieutenant (Lt) J. Arthur; Lt L. C. Reeves; Gunner (Gnr) W. Commons, holding cleaning rod; Gnr G. Parker, loading mortar; Corporal P. Barber.

Two 11 Squadron Catalinas over Lake Macquarie in NSW. Rathmines, on the edge of the lake, was a key base and depot for Australia's maritime patrol assets.

An Australian patrol lays up in an anti-tank ditch near the perimeter of the Australian defences around Tobruk. AWM 020779 . This appears to be a posed photo as the men are carrying no visible equipment or ammunition pouches and only their weapons (SMLE .303 rifles and .45 calibre Thompson sub machine guns). The term anti tank ditch seems ambitious as its hard to see that ditch causing any delay to a tank moving at speed.

Lieutenant General (later Sir) Leslie Mooreshead, General Officer Commanding the 9th Division at Tobruk. A one-time teacher, Gallipoli veteran and renowned as a disciplinarian, he was nick-named 'Ming the Merciless' by his troops after a cartoon character of the time.

Edward Hewlett's Certificate of Discharge - reverse

NX70915 Lt CAH Moxham, 2nd/2nd machine Gun Battalion

Wiakerie is a popular location for recreational gliding

The River Murray near Waikerie South Australia

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.

Map illustrating the relative position of AO Surfers, Saigon and the Australian base at Nui Dat

3RAR Defensive positions at Balmoral. The soldiers are wearing steel helmets and they have a very well prepared fully 'dug in' weapon pit prepared to 'Stage 3' complete with sleeping bays with overhead protection (sandbags) to protect against artillery and mortar splinters.

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

Thomas Baker's Pilots Course. Baker is circled (right) and a colleague Packer is circled left.

Four unidentified members of the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade machine gun squadron in action at Khurbetha-Ibn in Palestine. The man second from left and slightly forward of the gun is using an optical range finder to give range data to the No. 1 on the gun to apply to his sights to get correct elevation. The No. 2 on the right serves ammunition to the gun; he appears to be wearing a New Zealand 'lemon squeezer' service hat. The man on the far left is the detachment commander who will give adjustments to the No. 1. This image is a colour Paget Plate. Photographer: Frank Hurley

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.

Possibly one of the most recognised photos of the AIF on the Western Front. Lieutenant Rupert Frederick Arding Downes MC addresses his Platoon from B Company, 29th Battalion on 8 August 1918 during a rest before the advance onto Harbonnieres, the battalion's second objective. They are near the villages of Warfusee and Lamotte, France. The background of the photograph is obscured by the smoke of heavy shellfire. Many of the men pictured were killed in action or died of wounds or disease in the days and weeks after the photograph was taken, being amongst the last Australian deaths during the First World War. Each man has a story. Pte Towers (fourth from right), for example, was a farm labourer of Cootamundra, NSW, who later transferred to the 32nd Battalion. He was admitted to the Abbeville Hospital on 9 November 1918 suffering broncho-pneumonia where he died on 11 November 1918.

Superimposed on the Barrage Plan this is the counter battery fire plan and reaches in front of the creeping barrage rolling towards the German rear areas in order to neutralise the 504 guns positions identified by British Artillery Intelligence.

John Carr Ewen's medal set; L-R Miitary Cross, Distinguijhsed Conduct Medal, Military Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Pacific Star, British Service Medal 1939-45, Australian Service Medal 1939-45

Distinguished Conduct Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Rupert Ellsmore MC. Military Cross award.

A 77 Squadron Halifax B Mk III

An Armstrong WHitworth Whitley of No 77 Squadron at RAF Driffield

Harry Crockers grave at Pheasant Wood

Eric Slade approximate age 19 Farmer and Loving Husband and Father

Graves of the crew of 460 Squadron Lancaster lost here 13th June 1943

A Short Sunderland Mk.III (EK573/P) of No. 10 Squadron RAAF on the water after alighting to rescue 3 survivors from a Vickers Wellington of No. 172 Squadron RAF, clinging to a one-man dinghy (seen at right) after being shot down in the Bay of Biscay while attacking a German submarine on 26 August 1944. Although it was forbidden for flying boats to alight on the open sea in rescue attempts, the pilot of the Sunderland, Flight Lieutenant W.B. Tilley, decided the survivors could wait no longer for surface craft to arrive, and touched down to pick them up for a safe return to Mount Batten, Devon (UK). A fourth member of the Wellington crew, Flying Officer R.B. Gray RCAF, refused to risk the lives of the other survivors by overloading the dinghy, although he was seriously injured. He succumbed during their fifteen-hour ordeal at sea and was awarded a posthumous George Cross. The pilot of the Sunderland of No. 10 Squadron RAAF who made the hazardous sea landing and take-off was Flight Lieutenant William Boris Tilley DFC of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia).

2 OTU Mildura WW2. A range of aircraft can be seen including the ubiquitous P40 Kittyhawk and some Vultee Vengeance dive bombers.

A group of seven sergeants waiting to board on the troopship RMS Orontes. Identified back row right: 31661 Wheeler Sergeant (W/Sgt) William Richardson, 43 year old carpenter of Fremantle, WA. W/Sgt Richardson of 9th Reinforcements of 10th Field Artillery Brigade, has a wheel qualification badge on his right sleeve. All others are Master Gunners as denoted by their cloth gun badges on their right sleeves. Front row second left has a metal gun badge. Known to be amongst the group but exact positions unknown are: 31436 Sgt Keith A’Beckett Klingender, of Toorak, Vic, of 9th Reinforcements of 14th Field Artillery Brigade; 31586 Sgt Frank Moritz Michaelis, farmer of St Kilda, Vic of 12th Reinforcements of 6th Field Artillery Brigade. Sgt Michaelis died of meningitis on 14 May 1917 in England; 31361 Sgt Arthur Ernest McKean, clerk of Albert Park, Vic, of 12th Reinforcements of 4th Field Artillery Brigade (possibly centre front).

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.

Ian Henry Denver (enlisted as I.H. Deramore-Denver), DFC

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

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