Overseas Celebrations: Remembrance Day Poster 2020

We've created this poster to commemorate all those who served during World War II. Display our poster to help remember and recognise the contributions of all Australians during the war.

Department of Veterans' Affairs

July 2020 , Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Series: Remembrance Day posters

Access a designed version to download or print

Overseas Celebrations: Remembrance Day Poster 2020770.35 KB

Wartime snapshot

On the morning of 15 August 1945, RAAF men and soldiers crowded around a radio on Labuan Island, North Borneo, to hear official word of Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II. Almost a million Australians had served in uniform during the war, in campaigns in Europe, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Some 39,000 had lost their lives and more than 30,000 had been prisoners of war.

Background

Arthur Bryant, 2/17th Battalion, had been in uniform for more than five years. He was almost 29 years old and had fought in North Africa, New Guinea, and now Borneo. His diary entry for 15 August shows how tired many soldiers were of the war: ‘The end of the war was announced at 8 o’clock this morning. Except for a few cheers & a couple of shots there was no celebration’.

In August 1945 there were almost 224,000 service personnel serving across the Pacific, as well as prisoners of war (POWs) in Japan and in parts of south-east Asia. Another 20,000 service men, mainly members of the Royal Australian Air Force, were also serving in Britain and other locations.

Although the war was over, there was a lot of important work to be done, such as the occupation of Japan, the running of war trials, and the repatriation of former POWs, as well as returning surrendered enemy soldiers to Japan. All of this put a great strain on the limited amount of shipping that was available.

Bringing home ex-POWs was a priority. For other service personnel the process of demobilisation was based on a points system which was linked to their length of service. Marriage was another factor in the case of servicewomen. About 15,000 Australian and New Zealand women were married or engaged to American servicemen and they had to wait for ships to become available to sail to the United States.

By December 1945, tens of thousands of troops had been transported to Australia by Allied aircraft and ships, including Royal Navy aircraft carriers. A number of men were so desperate to get home that they stowed away on ships. Private John Ewen returned home in January 1946 on board the troopship Anatina. He wrote that there were officially 1,100 troops on board, with about 200 stowaways.

Education and sporting programs were run to keep the men busy while they waited to return to Australia. However, a number of troops protested the long wait time. On 10 December 1945, several thousand frustrated men held a protest march at Morotai, demanding that they return to Australia.

A soldier at Bougainville wrote to Prime Minister Ben Chifley and asked, ‘Why must we stay here, on the brink of desperation, on this remote island, our job done?’ When Chifley flew to visit the troops there, his plane was apparently sabotaged by unhappy Australian soldiers wanting to express their frustration.

By mid-1946, 468,700 men and women had been discharged. At dispersal centres in their home states, their weapons, uniforms and equipment were handed in. They received dental treatment, medical examinations and chest X-rays before being discharged. Men also received information about civilian employment, land settlement, re-establishment loans, training and other benefits. They officially ended their wartime service when they received their discharge certificates and ‘Returned from Active Service’ badges. This was an important moment for veterans as they returned to civilian life.