Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

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

Flight Sergeant Norman MacDOnald's 'Catepillar Club' badge

NF462502 Gunner Norma Vesta MEAKIN's headstone at Rookwood War Cemetery

Squadron Leader Keith "Bluey" Truscott taxis his P40 Kittyhawk on the Martson Matt perforated steel plate strip at Milne Bay

his rare colour photo shows P/O Orme and his crew back at Watton after a successful attack on shipping off the Dutch coast, 18th August 1941, just 10 days before they were lost in this same aircraft V6436 YH-L. P/O Orme can be seen climbing from the cockpit, behind him are two members of his ground crew, next to them wearing his Officers cap is P/O Gunnis, and far right on top of the fuselage is F/O Collins. (L. Gover)

Ground crew from 451 and 452 Squadrons at RAF Matlaske May 1945

Two soldiers of the Supply Depot, 1st Australian Division, with boxes of corned beef and canned meat and water cans, Anzac Cove, 1915. Image Australian War Memorial.

Sergeant Nancie Dod on arrival in Lae New Guinea 1945

WW1 Meritorious Service L- R Military Medal (MM), 1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.

Flying Officer Gordon Nunn DFC, pilot, and Flying Officer Hugh Mitchell DFC, observer, both 464 Squadron RAAF, in the cockpit of a de Havilland Mosquito aircraft.

Tom Tobin (back row third from left) and his flying Training course at No 9 EFTS Cunderdin Western Australia 1943. Jane Eblen private collection

Western Front: (Belgium), Ypres Area, Locre. Group portrait of the officers and NCOs of the 24th Machine Gun Company. In the foreground are two Vickers machine guns on their tripods. Left to right, back row: 422C Corporal (Cpl) J. H. Parker 429B Cpl H. J. Heywood 425A Cpl G. B. Redford MM MSM 372 Cpl C. W. Lane 438 Cpl P. P. Murphy 427B Acting Cpl J. W. Biggs Middle row: 504 Cpl H. S. Chave 1928 Cpl H. W. Courtney 501B Sgt C. W. E. Morris 426D Transport Sergeant (Sgt) C. Sugg MM 422A Sgt C. C. McPhee 617 Company Sergeant Major (CSM) P. O'Brien 414D Sgt V. A. J. Deeker 460A Sgt F. P. Packer 292 Sgt J. R. Reeves 424 Sgt C. B. Popkin 428A Acting Cpl C. E. Reade Front row: Lieutenant (Lt) L. D. Sinclair Lt T. R. Jack MC Lt F. R. Watts Major F. B. Hinton MC Lt C. C. Dight Lt W. A. Shelley MM

Military Medal notification

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

VFX94085 Captain Nora Heysen, Official war artist, Military History Section, at 106th Casualty Clearing Station.

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.)

Seconded to Hawkers to continue his test pilot duties, F/L Richard C "Dickie" Reynell was attached to No 43 Squadron RAF for operational experience at RAF Tangmere on 26 August 1940. After claiming an Me 109 destroyed on 2 September, the 28-year-old Australian was shot down 5 days later, in combat with enemy fighters over south London. Bailing out of Hurricane Mk I FT-F, wounded, his parachute failed to open and he fell dead near Blackheath.

SA State Library PRG 280/1/29/73 Mounted soldiers of the South Australian Light Horse Regiment on parade for a Colour Presentation ceremony at Morphettville racecourse, South Australia

A Poster urging Australians to avenge the sinking of the Centaur by contributing to the war effort

A Bulldozer of No. 5 Airfield Construction Squadron at work in a coral quarry on Noemfoor Island in late 1944

The "Adelaide Rifles" Battalion Shooting Team, with Captain Miles Beevor seated in the centre c 1912. They are equipped with what appear to be brand new SMLE No 1 Mk III* rifles possibly straight from the then new Small Arms Factory at Lithgow. A couple of the NCOs have seen Boer War or other British Colonial service. Miles Beevor was acting CO of the Battalion in the latter stages of ANZAC and later commanded the 52nd battalion in France until he was wounded at Pozieres. He was repatriated to Australia.

Australian gunners in action with their 18 pounder gun supporting the 4th Division at FIrst Bullecourt

Private Edwin Bavister joined the 25th Battalion of the Australian Infantry on 28 December 1915 and was killed in action in France on 18 July 1918. His memorial is at the war cemetery in Villers-Bretonneux, France. He was a grocer at Dinmore and 25 years old when he died.

Private later Lance Corporal Frank Albert BROWN 43rd Bn AIF

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

10185 Jack 'Lucky' Reed

5337 Frederick George Hansson. In this picture he is wearing Corporal's stripes which may date from his Militia service in the 84th Infantry enlistment into the AIF in Jan 1916

Australians prepare for an attack near Bullecourt, France, May 1917. [AWM E00454]

Standing: Capt P Samson, Lieut Richard Harry Sampson, Q R Serg't Harry Percy Sampson. Sitting: RSM Harry Wills Sampson, Capt. Richard Sampson, RQM Serg't Frederick Sampson.

657 St Elmo Rupert CORBETT - Prior to departure HMAT Hororata

A Centurion tank in position behind a protective bund at FSB Balmoral

Ronald (Ron) Henry Parsloe 24 Squadron Gunner/Navigator

Australian Army Nursing Sisters Ellen Keats and Elizabeth Pyman. Ellen Keats was evacuated from Singapore on the ill-fated SS VYner Brooke and was murdered by her Japanese captros at Banka Island. Sister Pyman was more fortunate being evacuated on another ship and returning safely to Australia

Informal portrait of the crew of a Lancaster bomber of 467 Squadron RAAF prior to a night mission. Identified, left to right: 1352851 Sergeant (Sgt) Eric Reginald Hill, RAF, mid upper gunner of Weald, Essex; 423311 Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) Gilbert Firth Pate, RAAF, rear gunner of Belmore, NSW; 1350279 Sgt Kenneth Harold Tabor, RAF, flight engineer; 425413 Flt Sgt Alistair Dale Johnston, RAAF, wireless operator, of Melbourne, Vic; 400495 Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) Donald Philip Smeed Smith, DFC, RAAF, pilot of Melbourne, Vic; 412686 Warrant Officer Royston William Purcell, RAAF, navigator of Werris Creek NSW; 658844 Flt Sgt Jeremiah Parker, RAF, bomb aimer of England. The aircraft pictured is most likely the Lancaster Mark III bomber LM475 (PO-B). This was the usual aircraft flown by the crew listed above which crashed whilst on a mission over Lille, France, on 10 May 1944, of which only the pilot, Sqn Ldr Smith survived. Two weeks prior to this mission, bomber pilots were authorised to wear seat-type parachutes instead of the standard backpack that was stored in the plane and only hooked in case of need. This most likely saved Sqn Ldr Smith's life; on landing by parachute he made his way cross-country through France and Switzerland, and back to England several months later.

Another map minus unit dispositions but more clearly displaying key locations within the defensive perimeter

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

Frank Mouritz 2018

Private Roy BOARDMAN,

2015 photograph

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

BOURNEMOUTH, DORSET, ENGLAND. OCTOBER 1941. 404790 PILOT OFFICER CHARLES ANTONY (TONY) HARLAND (QUEENSLAND) ON LEFT AND PILOT OFFICER 402913 HENRY (HARRY) ROLAND TRAIN. HARLAND WAS LATER KILLED IN A RAID ON ESSEN, GERMANY, ON 11 APRIL 1942.

No. 76 Swuadorn - BCOF Japan 1947 BOFU, JAPAN. 1947-07-15. PILOTS FROM 76 SQUADRON, 81ST FIGHTER WING, RAAF, GET A FINAL BRIEFING NEAR THEIR AIRCRAFT FROM THEIR FLIGHT LEADER FOR THEIR DAYS DUTY OVER THE BCOF AREA. SHOWN: 50971 WARRANT OFFICER N. J. BAX OF BALRANALD, NSW; WARRANT OFFICER V. G. BARKELL OF CONCORD, NSW; 115515 WARRANT OFFICER J. C. SAMPSON OF WARRAMBOO, SA; WARRANT OFFICER S. W. WILLIAMSON OF ST KILDA, VIC; 418588 FLIGHT LIEUTENANT D. V. TERRY OF ELWOOD, VIC, FLIGHT LEADER.

Aircrew Photo Late 1943 Just before Joining 57 RAF Squadron for First Tour in Jan 1944. All RAF apart from Ian. All Sgts apart from Nav. Rear L-R W/Op Ken Jenkinson (Survived War), Mid Upper AG Charlie King (Survived War), F/E William (Bill) Walter (KIA 12 Jan 1945) and Rear AG Bert McKellar (KIA 12 Jan 1945). Front L-R Nav Terry O'Brien (Survived War), Pilot Ian Ross (KIA 12 Jan 1945) and BA Ed Tilby (KIA 12 Jan 1945). Charlie and Terry elected not to Continue Flying and were Rested after completing their First Tour. Ken Remained with Crew but was Grounded Due to Illness and did not fly on Bergen Op. Replacement Crew - Nav Syd Anderson DFM, Mid Upper AG Les Griffiths and W/Op Ray Ellwood DFM MID. All were Killed with Ian. Rays body was Recovered and Buried in Norway, he had been on Operations since 1939. The Remainder are all on Runnymede with Ian. Family 1943

37471 Pilot Officer William Keith Bennett