Australians in wartime

Dreaming of home kept him going on railway of death

Name: Clarence Williams
Date: 1941-1945
Unit: 2/10th Battalion RAE
Location: Malaya
Dreaming of home and the wonderful things he would do when he got there was what kept Sapper Clarrie Williams going while he slaved away on the Burma-Thailand Railway.

Farewell from a soldier

Name: Edward Mason
Date: 1916
Unit: 32nd Battalion, AIF
Location: France
When Edward Isaac Mason enlisted for World War I he lied about his age. Nothing unusual about that. Lots of young men added a year or two to join up.

Farriers played important role with Australian Light Horse

Name: Harold Mertin
Date: 1914-1919
Unit: 9th Australian Light Horse
Location: Middle East
Farriers were in great demand by the Australian Light Horse so when Harold Arthur Mertin joined up 1914 he was welcomed with open arms.

Fever caused more grief than the enemy

Name: Lionel Abeshouse
Date: 1942-1945
Unit: 8th Platoon, 55th Battalion AIF
Location: New Guinea
Shortly after disembarking from the Taroona on arrival in Port Moresby with the 8th Platoon, 55th Battalion AIF, in May 1942, Lionel Abeshouse found himself marching 20 km to camp, carrying full equipment.

German spy may have caused Captain Lovett's death

Name: Norman  Lovett
Date: 1914-1918
Unit: 1st Light Horse Unit
Location: Europe
Norman Lovett was well known in the Wellington area. His father Fred was the Maryvale Public School teacher and Norman had spent much of his life there. He had followed in his father's footsteps and was also a teacher in charge of the tiny Bearbung School near Gilgandra when he enlisted on 23 August 1914.

Great friendships formed in heat of battle

Name: John Virgo
Date: 1942
Unit: 2/10 Battalion AIF
Location: New Guinea
Many great and lasting friendships were formed amongst the men and women who served in Australia's armed forces over the years. Sadly, many such friendships ended suddenly with the death of one or more of the individuals in battle.

Harley Matthews—The Spirit of Anzac

Name: Edward Mason
Date: 1916
Unit: 32nd Battalion, AIF
Location: France
Harley Matthews was a poet, journalist, playwright and wine maker who served at Gallipoli and was later imprisoned in Australia for sedition. But his most unusual role was surely that of an artist's model.

Harveyson family provided Grenfell volunteers with home from home

Name: Charles and Harry Harveyson
Date: 1914-1918
Unit: Civilians
Location: England, Australia
Two brothers who lived 12,000 miles (20,000km) apart at the beginning of World War I combined to provide a home from home for Grenfell troops sent to Europe, and in doing so formed a bond which is as strong as ever today.

He charged at Beersheba with the light horse

Name: Horace Flitcroft
Date: 1917-1918
Unit: 10th Light Horse
Location: Middle East
The air was filled with the sound of thundering hoofs and the shouts of exhilaration from hundreds of young Australian Light Horse troops as they raced across the desert towards the Turkish lines at Beersheba.

Hugh Anderson's letters bring the horrors of war to life

Name: Hugh Anderson
Date: 1915-1917
Unit:1st Brigade AIF
Location:Gallipoli, France
Hugh Anderson was a prolific letter writer. Throughout his time in Gallipoli and France, and when in hospital, first in Greece and later in England, he wrote regularly to his mother and father and to other relatives with vivid descriptions of places he had visited and the horrendous fighting in which he had been involved.

Lancaster pilot survived numerous scrapes

Name: Frank Slade
Date: 1944
Unit: 156 Squadron RAAF
Location: Europe
Squadron Leader Frank Slade of the RAAF had made many raids on German targets during World War II so another trip to Hamburg on 28 July 1944 was just another day at the office

Letters an important part of a soldier's life

Name: Fred Ball
Date: 1916-1917
Unit: 30th Battalion AIF
Location: France, Belgium
For most soldiers in World War I letters were an important part of their life. Many wrote long accounts of battles and complained when mail from home didn't reach them.

Live on and love on war the motto of Jack Neil

Name: Jack Neil
Date: 1915
Unit: Australian Medical Corps
Location: Gallipoli
Jack Neil was a religious man with a strong sense of honour and duty.

Living through "friendly fire" in New Guinea

Name: Henry Booth
Date: 1943-194
Unit: 100 Squadron RAAF
Location: Milne Bay, New Guinea
Being shot at by planes and having bombs dropped near you was a fairly common occurrence in New Guinea during World War II, as Tony Booth would be the first to tell you. But when the bullets and the bombs came from Australian aircraft, it was a bit hard to take.

Lt Britt describes the first day on Gallipoli

Name: William Britt
Date: 1915-1918
Location: Gallipoli, France, Belgium
Lt William Britt seemed to be leading a charmed life when he survived the landing at Gallipoli. Bullets passed through his hat and several parts of his clothes. One broke his favourite pipe while another grazed his wrist, but still he fought on.

Major Nat Barton mentioned in despatches

Name: Nat Barton
Date: 1914-1918
Unit: 7th Light Horse Regiment
Location: Gallipoli, France, Belgium
Nat Barton was born at Wellington in 1894, the third son of Charles and Annie Barton. He spent most of his life growing up on their property, Nanima, close to Wellington, which his parents had bought in 1894.

Medical evacuation

Name: Recording of contact with enemy
Date: 1969
Unit: 7 Platoon, C Company
Location: Vietnam
During the Vietnam War wounded were generally speedily evacuated by helicopter. If war movies are to be believed, scarcely has a soldier been hit before a medical evacuation helicopter appeared over the horizon. But sometimes the reality was quite different. This recording shows how difficult medical evacuation could be

Men who didn't come home: HMAS Sydney, 1941

On 19 November 1941, HMAS Sydney (II) fought the German raider Kormoran off the coast of Western Australia. Both ships sank. None of Sydney’s 645 men returned home, and roughly 80 of Kormoran's crew died. It's Australia's worst naval disaster. Behind the headlines were Australians with different backgrounds, skills and hopes. The stories of Joseph Burnett, Harold Armstrong and Thomas Welsby Clark help us understand the human cost of war. Investigate the event through personnel records, eyewitness accounts and physical evidence.
Different lives, one shipCaptain Joseph Burnett began naval service before World War I. For Harold Armstrong and Thomas Welsby Clark, it was a much newer experience.

Mixed feelings as POWs waited to be released

Name: Reg Mahoney
Date: 1945
Unit: POW
Location: Changi
Every day that Australians spent as prisoners of war they longed for freedom. They thought about family and friends at home and just hoped to survive for the end of the war.

Naked diggers seek relief from bugs

Name: Frank Boyes
Date: 1915-1918
Unit: 14th Btn, 3rd Brigade AIF
Location: Gallipoli, France
The sight of Australian diggers walking naked up the beach at Gallipoli would have caused great amusement had it not been for the seriousness of the situation.

National servicemen took part in undeclared war

Name: Michael O'Dea
Date: 1966
Unit: 4RAR
Location: Indonesian Confrontation, Malaysia
Private Michael O'Dea was called up for National Service in 1965 when his birth date was pulled out of the hat. But unlike many of his colleagues he didn't go to Vietnam. Instead he went to Borneo where Indonesian guerillas were infiltrating Malaysia.

POW camp journals kept morale high

Name: POW camp newsletters
Date: 1942-1944
Location: Europe
To offset the boredom of life in prisoner of war camps, particularly those in the European conflict, a huge amount of effort went into physical and creative activity - apart from the many escape plans.

POW survives horrendous conditions

Name: Justin Dawson
Date: 1917
Unit: 15th Battalion AIF
Location: France, Belgium, Germany
Private Justin Dawson was fighting with the 15th Battalion near Baupaume in France on 10 April 1917 when a 'stunt' went wrong and he was captured by the Germans.

Private Craig's view of Gallipoli landing

Name: Harold Gordon Craig
Date: 1915
Unit: 6th Battalion AIF
Location: Gallipoli
The harrowing accounts add substance to the horrors faced by the ANZACS as they headed for the beach in boats and while they were fighting their way up the steep inclines against appalling odds.

Private Litchfield describes the day he was shot

Name: Charles West Litchfield
Date:1915-1917
Unit: 9th Reinforcements, 10th Battalion, AIF
Location: France
Like many troops in World War I, Private Charles Litchfield kept a diary through the two years from the time he left Australia until he was wounded and repatriated to Australia.

RAAF Butterworth upgraded by No 2 Airfield Construction Squadron

Name: Kevin Le Fevre
Date: 1955
Unit: No 2 Airfield Construction Squadron
Location: Butterworth, Malaya
Australia's major area of strategic concern in 1953-54 changed from the Middle East to South-East Asia with the threat of communism and the domino theory uppermost in the minds of the government.

Ray survived eight days on the run from the Japanese

Name: Ray Graetz
Date: 1944
Unit: 100 Squadron RAAF
Location: New Guinea
Flying Officer Ray Graetz was a wireless operator/air gunner on a bombing and strafing mission with eight other Beauforts over Wewak in May 1944 when his plane was shot down by enemy gunfire.

Regular soldiers were backbone of units in Vietnam

Name: Graham Sherrington
Date: 1966-1967
Unit: 6 Platoon B Company 5RAR
Location: Nui Dat
Graham Sherrington was not your typical regular soldier. He had had more than his share of run ins with the Army authorities but there was more to it than that.

Rescue flight brings Vietnamese orphans out of Saigon

Name: Phyllis Schumann
Date: 1975
Unit: Civilian (formerly Flight Officer RAAF Nursing Service)
Location: Vietnam
The withdrawal of forces from Vietnam was drawing to a conclusion in April 1975 when the Australian Government made a decision to evacuate some war orphans from the vicinity of Saigon before they could fall into the path of the advancing North Vietnamese troops.

Rex Boyden survived wounding at Gallipoli to become an ace pilot

Name: Rex Boyden
Date: 1918
Unit: 18th Battalion AIF, discharged from AIF and joined Royal Flying
Location: Gallipoli
The Boyden family certainly carried out its fair share of duty for Australia with four brothers fighting in World War I and a fifth in World War II. Amazingly all survived although three were wounded and one became a prisoner of war.

Sapper recalls years fighting in New Guinea

Name: Bill Stanbury
Date: 1943-1946
Unit: 15th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers
Location: New Guinea
Sapper Bill Stanbury had an eventful war. It started off badly in December 1942 when, after being refused pre-embarkation leave, he went Absent Without Leave, in a bid to see his wife as she was about to give birth to their first child.

Saved by a mate during Turk attack

Name: Frank  Boyes
Date: 1915-1918
Unit: 14th Battalion, 3rd Brigade AIF
Location: Gallipoli
The troops at Gallipoli often had to rely on their mates in times of great duress. It wasn't something you stopped to think about - you just took it for granted - you'd look after them and they'd look out for you.

Secret diary of life in Changi

Name: Jack O'Donnell
Date: 1941-1945
Unit: 10 AGH
Location: Changi POW Camp
When Sgt Jack O'Donnell was taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore, he was, quite naturally, rather depressed about life. But rather than give in to melancholy, he decided to document his experiences as best he could.

Signaller lucky to escape from Singapore

Name: Allan Quick
Date: 1942
Unit: L Section, 8 Division Signals
Location: Singapore, Ceylon
For someone who was a signaller trained to keep things short and to the point, Allan Quick wrote remarkably thoughtful and detailed letters home from the war.

Sister Hamilton served much of the war on night duty

Name: Vera Hamilton
Date: 1940-1945
Unit: 2nd AIF
Location: Middle East, New Guinea, Australia
Sister Vera Hamilton was nursing at Scott Memorial Hospital at Scone, New South Wales, when war was declared and immediately enlisted but it was to be 12 months before she got the call. Once it came it was but a few days before she was on a boat heading for the Middle East.

Soldiers issued with broom sticks instead of guns

Name: Jack Brinkworth
Date:1939-1945
Unit: 2/2nd Infantry Battalion
Location: 2/2nd Infantry Battalion
When World War II broke out on 3 September 1939, Jack Brinkworth was living in Gresford. On his first day off work, 7 September, he rode his bike the 28 miles to Maitland to the Drill Hall and put his name and address on the notice board to enlist, the second person to do so.

Specialist mechanical unit paved the way for troops

Name: Eric Mallen
Date: 1941 to 1945
Unit: 2/1st Australian Mechanical Equipment Company
Location: New Guinea
Early in World War II the authorities realised there would be a need to have earth moving machines and equipment with experienced operators to be used in various war zones including the Middle East and the Pacific.

Stretcher bearers strayed behind enemy lines

Name: Bill Manly
Date: 1916-1918
Unit: 13th Australian Field Ambulance
Location: Pozières Woods, France
Private Bill Manly was used to collecting wounded Australian soldiers from the battlefield. It was his job while working for the 13th Australian Field Ambulance at the dressing station in Pozières Woods on the Somme.

The "Dinkum Soldier" whose luck ran out

Name: William O'Brien
Date: 1917
Unit: 25th Battalion AIF
Location: France
Private William O'Brien came from a hard-working family. His father died in 1906, just a few years after establishing a flour mill in Toowoomba. This left his mother with 10 children to look after and a business to run.

The 106 Field Workship in Vietnam

Name: Claude Palmer
Date: 1969-1970
Unit: 106 Field Workshop, RAEME
Location: Long Tan, Vietnam
Units of the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME) have served Australia well in many conflicts and Vietnam was no exception.

The battle for Lone Pine

Name: Hugh Anderson
Date: 1915
Unit: 1st Brigade AIF
Location: Lone Pine, Gallipoli
The battle for Lone Pine, involving the Australian 1st Brigade plus two other battalions, was a crushing victory for the Australians but at a horrendous cost to both sides.

The battle for Mouquet Farm

Name: Percy Nuttall
Date: 1916
Unit: AIF
Location: Gallipoli, France, Belgium
The battle for Mouquet Farm, just north of Pozières in France, was shrouded in controversy. Thousands of Australian troops died over a period of several weeks while the farm was taken and abandoned a number of times.

The evacuation of Gallipoli went like clockwork

Name: Stewart Boyden
Date: 1915-1918
Unit: 19th Battalion AIF
Location: Gallipoli, France and Belgium
Stewart Boyden was a good letter writer. He wrote often to his parents back in Sydney, expressing his feelings and his faith in God.

The half-penny slouch hat

Name: Myrtle Sheppard
Date: 1939-1945
Unit: Civilian
Location: Qld, Australia
Since time immemorial soldiers have filled in idle moments with an astonishing variety of activities, ranging from playing board games to making handcrafts using whatever material was readily available.

The sinking of HMAS Canberra

Name: Francis Pickup
Date: 1942
Unit: HMAS Canberra
Location: the Battle of the Solomon Islands
Francis Pickup was a signaller on board HMAS Canberra in August 1942 when the ship, along with HMAS Australia and HMAS Hobart (light cruiser 6 inch guns) plus a large American Amphibian Force of aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, destroyers and transports, with accompanying support vehicles, was involved in the Battle of the Solomon Islands.

The sinking of the Wollongbar II

Name: Civilians
Date: 1943
Location: Queensland, Australia
A one-sided secret sea-battle raged in the New South Wales north coast waters during one fortnight in mid 1943. Much wreckage and Australian blood washed on to beaches during this battle. Because of strict Government censorship laws, it became a secret war, with most Australians being unaware of the extent of the damage being wrought by marauding Japanese submarines.

The skirl of the pipes kept troops entertained

Name: The Highland Trio
Date: 1939-1945
Unit: Civilians
Location: New South Wales
The skirl of the bagpipes and the beating of the drum have been the inspiration for many a Scots unit during various wars. But when the pipes and drums were played by three attractive young ladies during World War II, it was to entertain the troops rather than lead them into battle.

They can't beat the boys of this old brigade

Name: Tom Murphy
Date: 1941-1945
Unit: No 4 Company, 8 Australian Signals
Location: Malaya, Japan
Despite being only 15 years old, Tom Murphy was so keen to go to war that he borrowed his older brother's birth certificate and put up his age. His big problem was that he only looked 15 and he was turned away by several recruitment officers.

This place they call Tobruk

Name: H.B. Paterson
Date: 1941
Unit: AIF
Location: Middle East
War has produced some memorable poetry over the years with the name Paterson among the best.

Those at home also suffered from lack of news

Name: Emily "Queenie" Bennett
Date: 1943
Unit: Civilian
Location: Vic, Australia
Much of the focus during any war is on the family members who have gone away to serve their country. Service men and women tell of their longing to receive mail from home and how excited they are when it arrives.