Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Buckingham Palace, London. C. 1943-06. Group portrait taken outside Buckingham Palace after the Queen's Investiture. Left to right 408076 Flight Sergeant T. D. Simpson DFM of Hobart, Tas; 406248 Pilot Officer C. L. Howard DFC of Perth, WA; 407729 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) D. J. Shannon DSO DFC of Bridgewater, SA; Wing Commander G. P. Gibson VC DSO and Bar DFC and Bar, RAF; 407074 Flt Lt R. C. Hay DFC and Bar of Malvern, SA; 402367 Flt Lt J. F. Leggo DFC and Bar of Lake Macquarie, NSW; Flt Lt H. B. Martin DSO DFC of Sydney, NSW, RAF; 407380 Pilot Officer F. M. Spafford DFC DFM of Wayville, SA. They were all decorated for the part they had played in the famous raid on the German dams, led by the Commanding Officer Wing Commander Gibson who was awarded the VC.

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

Three B24 Heavy Bombers of 7 OTU on a training flight in southern NSW in 1944/45

418913 Flying Officer Norman Jack Bowman

Sketch map, the action at Isurava, 29 August 1942

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.

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.

Roadsign indicating the Millencourt Communal Cemetery Extension

The entrance to Becourt Military cemetery

Three brothers, Private Theo Leslie Seabrook (left), 2 Lieutenant William Keith Seabrook (centre) and Private George Ross Seabrook (right) of Fivedock, New South Wales, Australia were all serving with 17 Battalion, Australian Infantry when they were killed together at Polygon Wood in the Ypres Salient on 20 - 21 September 1917. At the time of their deaths, George was aged 25, Theo was aged 24 and William was aged 21. Theo and George are commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres while William is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.

A 4.5 inch howitzer of 108th Howitzer Battery of the 8th FIeld Artillery Brigade deployed in line behind a dyke or elevated road which provides them with cover from fire and view by the enemy

The Rose Park Gun. German 7.7cm Feldkanone 96 (FK96) Field Gun (1896).* One of a battery of German 77mm field guns captured by the 32nd Battalion during the Battle of Amiens that are now located in parks around SA.

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

S212712 Warrant Officer CLass 2 George Fenner REEVES. Approx date taken, as enrolled in WW2, with rank of Warrant Officer 2nd Class. Refer service record S212712

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.

AWM Collection The Banner borne by men of the 5th Machine Gun Battalion in Sydney until 1973 when the banner was retired and donated to the AWM

Distinguished Conduct Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Rupert Ellsmore MC. Military Cross award.

A plaque honouring the crews of two Lancasters lost over Chevillon in July 1944

Robert Thomas BAMBLETT's headstone in the AIF Cemetery West Terrace Adelaide

L-R Military Cross, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal Victory Medal with MiD clasp

Gunner Robert Bamblett beside an 18 pounder field gun of the 12th Field Artillery Brigade, probably on the Salisbury Plain in England prior to deploying to France

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

A 77 Squadron Halifax B Mk III

An Armstrong WHitworth Whitley of No 77 Squadron at RAF Driffield

S/No 424759 Flight Sergeant Stuart Lacey EDWARDS

Harry Crockers grave at Pheasant Wood

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.

Harold Bourke's grave at Pheasant Wood

AWM caption : Richmond, NSW. c. 1938. Supermarine Seagull V (Walrus) amphibian aircraft of No. 5 (Fleet Cooperation) Squadron RAAF lined up for inspection on the tarmac in front of the Squadron's hangar at RAAF Base Richmond. Note the squadron pilots in front of the aircraft with maintenance personnel standing under the wings of the aircraft. Aircraft serial numbers A2-2 and A2-5 are at the far end of the line.

A privately own and flown CAC Wirraway operating in the 1980s before the 'Warbird' vintage military aviation movement got under way in Australia.

Flying Officer Jack Brittain

Percy Geason's grave at Pheasant Wood cemetery

Harold George Woodman's grave Pheasant Wood

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

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

Prowse Point Cemetery taken from its neighbour Mud Corner

The grave of 937 Sergeant Harold Prisk of the 9th Light Horse Regiment, at the AIF Cemetery, West Terrace Adelaide

HEadstones of two Commonwealth airmen

Risor, Aust-Agder, Norway

"SYDNEY" GETTING THE STORY IN THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN. CAPTAIN COLLINS, COMMANDER THRUSTON AND JOHN HETHERINGTON. (NEGATIVE BY PARER).

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 Kittyhawk A29-82 of 2 OTU in flight - similar Curtis P40 Kittyhawk aircraft were involved in fatal accidents at 2 OTU.

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

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

Military Cross 1914/15 Star British War Medal Victory Medal

Studio portrait of 808 Private (Pte) Antonio Augustine Picone, 6th Machine Gun Company from Stawell, Victoria (born in Italy). A 19 year old fruiterer's assistant prior to enlisting on 14 June 1917, he embarked for overseas with the 15th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 26 November 1917 aboard SS Indarra. Following further training in Egypt and England and a period of illness in England, he arrived in France on 22 August 1918 and joined the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion. Pte Picone arrived back in Australia on 6 February 1920.