Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Two soldiers from the 15th MG Coy posing for a photograph with a Vickers Machine gun. Its key features are the heavy tripod on which it mounted, the right hand belt feed of ammunition in canvas belts, and the cylindrical jacket over the barrel which is filled with water to aid cooling of the barrel. This facilitated the very high rates of sustained fire this gun was renowned for.

Surrounded by Australians, wounded North Vietnamese prisoners lie on makeshift stretchers and wait to be evacuated from Balmoral.

An Australian digger searches for his mate's grave amid the shell-torn landscape that was Pozieres. The fact that so many men have no known grave is unsurprising given field burials like these which could be subsequently obliterated by more fighting and shellfire. After the war these ad hoc burials were concentrated into the cemeteries we know today.

SA Premiers ANZAC Spirit Prize group visited Toronto Avenue on 19th April 2013. Toronto Avenue cemetery can only be reached via a walking track from the vicinity of Prowse Point cemetery,past Mud Lane cemetery and through Ploegsteert Wood.

Distinguished Flying Cross (original WW1 style ribbon), 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Memorial Stained Glass Window in the Uniting Church Knightsbridge SA, commemorating the life of Leonard GURNER, a parishoner

An Avro Lancaster Mk III of No. 50 Squadron late in the war - Squadron codes 'VN' clearly visible

A flight of three Lockheed Hudson aircraft from No. 23 Squadron RAAF based at Amberley in 1941. Nearest camera is A16-3 flown by 22 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Phillip Walter Howson, OBE. In the centre is A16-38, flown by 251607 Flying Officer (FO) Edward Andrew Dorward, and at rear, A16-47, flown by 260518 FO Oscar George Diethelm. A16-38, was later issued to No. 32 Squadron. Flown by Wing Commander Deryck Kingwell, it was badly shot up in New Guinea on 31 March 1942. After repair it was issued to No. 1 Operational Training Unit (1 OTU), Bairnsdale, Vic, when it was flown during a press demonstration at Bairnsdale, on 27 October 1942 by Flt Lt Frank Tampion, lost its starboard mainplane and crashed and burned 'in shot' of Fox Movietone and Cinesound Newsreel cameraman Geoff Thompson. The film was impounded and used in the subsequent enquiry, which eliminated the rumour that undetected corrosion caused by an undetected Japanese bullet hole was responsible; the cause was determined to be a poorly repaired mainplane. In the interim, however, eighteen 1 OTU Hudsons were withdrawn during November 1942 for mainplane replacement. All four Lockheed Hudson photographs (AC0058, AC0066 AC0067 and AC0068) were taken by Flt Lt John Harrison from Wirraway A20-115, flown by Commanding Officer of 23 Squadron, regular officer 80 Squadron RAAF Leader Dixie Robison Chapman. Of note is the unusual, small RAAF serial applied to the tailplanes of A16-3. A16-3 was on strength with 1 OTU when the unit was called on at short notice to provide aircraft for the air supplying of allied troops at Buna. A group of twelve Hudsons was formed, known as 1 OTU Detached Flight, including A16-3, flown from Bairnsdale to Ward's Drome at Port Moresby, and began operations on 14 December 1942, flying over the Owen Stanley Mountain Range to drop supplies at Soputa and, later, landing at Dobodura. Flown by Flt Lt Neville Hemsworth, with Sergeant Bert Rodd and Flight Sergeants Robert Bamber and Henry Stephens as crew, A16-3, taking off from Dobodura with four wounded infantry aboard at 11.00 am on 26 December, was attacked by several Ki-43 Oscars from the 11th Sentai and chased south to Hariko. An incendiary bullet started a fire and Hemsworth ditched the Hudson into Oro Bay near Hariko, resulting in the drowning of the two stretcher bound wounded. A US Navy PT Boat picked up the survivors, but Stephens died of burns the next day, while Hemsworth was badly burned about the face and arms and Bamber wounded by gunfire. The ditching was witnessed and sketched by Official War Artist Roy Hodgkinson (who comments that the Hudson made 'a perfect belly landing on the sea') and appears in the Memorial's collection as ART21695. A16-47 was attached to the RAAF's Survey Flight in early 1944, then based at Lowood, Queensland. On 23 July 1945, A16-47, crewed by Flt Lt Lance Clarke, FO Thomas Steel and Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Frank Chiverton, and carrying as passengers the Flight's new Commander, Squadron Leader Nigel Pilcher plus unit members Corporal Bill Gaze and LAC Walter Nielson and Squadron Leader Cuthbert Griffin, departed for Bowen to visit the Flight's Anson detachment. They never arrived and despite a week long search, were never located.

Australia's first submarine AE1 in dry dock at Cockatoo Island in Sydney in June 1914

3495A Gunner (Gnr) Harold Constantine 5th DAC

"Sonny" Wright, Frank's childhood mate enlisted as under age and served through WW2 in all theatres and then deployed to Japan as part of the BCOF, where he was accidentally killed in a motor vehicle accident in 1946. He was initially interred under the name C.R. O'Neil - the name of Frank's uncle whose driver's licence SOnny used as ID to enlist. His headstone has since been corrected. He is buried in Yokohama Military Cemetery.

William Wilson Smith

A posed photograph of de Havilland DH 5 Scout plane (Serial A 9242) of 68 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps (renumbered as No 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps from 19 January 1918) at an aerodrome in Lincolnshire, England, with 24 year old Cootamundra born Lieutenant Sydney Winton Ayers in the cockpit. Ayers was later shot down on 22 November 1917 over Bourlou Wood while ground strafing German troops and positions in support of the tank-assisted Cambrai attack - he died of his wounds two days later. The same month this image was taken, Ayers' brother, Private Charles Thomas Ayers of 58 Battalion, was killed at Polygon Wood. The legend painted down the right side of the DH5 scout indicates it was a presentation aircraft, paid for by subscriptions and fund-raising in Australia. This particular aircraft, 'New South Wales no 14' (also known as The Women's Battleplane) was presented on 12 April 1917 to 68 Squadron by 'the women of New South Wales and others', who raised 2,700 pounds. Notable amongst the subscribers were the Tweed and Armidale Battleplane Funds. Generally disliked by pilots for its lack of performance, vibration, and tendency to shed valves, the DH5 was being replaced by the SE5a by the end of 1917. See also A02177.

17184 PTE Percy Flanigan

G for George a tribute to all RAAF Aircrew who flew with RAF Bomber Command

Cecil Ronald "Ron" Weinert, Korea

LABUAN, NORTH BORNEO. 1945-08-10. 2623 FLIGHT LIEUTENANT FRANK R. SCHAAF DFC OF PAGEWOOD, NSW, WHO LED A FLIGHT OF FOUR AIRCRAFT OF NO. 82 (KITTYHAWK) SQUADRON RAAF, WHICH DESTROYED THREE SINGLE-ENGINED JAPANESE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT, ALLIED CODE NAME OSCAR, ON KUCHING AIRSTRIP. IT WAS THE LONGEST STRIKE FLOWN BY SINGLE-ENGINED FIGHTERS FROM THE LABUAN BASE. HIS AIRCRAFT CARRIES MARKINGS AND INSIGNIA (NOSE ART) INDICATING THAT HE FLEW WITH THE FAMED DESERT HARASSERS IN THE WESTERN DESERT.

AWM caption : Fenton, NT. 1945-03. An informal group portrait of a crew of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber aircraft of No. 21 Squadron RAAF, standing beside their aircraft. Left to right: Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) P. Rousseau of Darling Point, NSW Flt Sgt D. W. Johnston of Kogarah, NSW Flying Officer (FO) H. A. Seymour of Coogee, NSW Sergeant (Sgt) F. A. Dean of Brighton, Vic Flt Sgt W. C. Randall of North Sydney FO C. L. Henry of Ivanhoe, Vic Pilot Officer R. W. Brooks of Coogee, NSW Flt Sgt R. W. McLeod of Northcote, Vic Flt Sgt W. H. Storey of Bexley, NSW Sgt R. H. Brown of Allora, Qld Flight Lieutenant R. W. Court of Collaroy, NSW

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

Bellicourt Cemetery

Men of an Anti Tank Company at Tobruk; The 2nd/3rd Anti Tank Regiment and the 24th and 26th Anti Tanl Companis served at Tobruk.

AWM caption : FOULSHAM, ENGLAND. 1945. 'JANE' (NO. MZ913), A HANDLEY PAGE HALIFAX B MARK III AIRCRAFT 'N' OF NO. 462 SQUADRON RAAF. THE BOMBER FLEW OVER 100 TRIPS AND WAS USED IN THE FIRST OPERATIONS OF THE SQUADRON. IT WAS FINALLY CONSIGNED TO THE WRECKERS IN CARDIFF, WALES ON 1945-05-04. NO 462 SQUADRON HALIFAX AIRCRAFT HAD VERTICAL YELLOW STRIPES ON THEIR TAIL FINS FOR IN FLIGHT IDENTIFICATION.

3190 Private Kenneth Morton KNOX 50th Battalion

Willaston Cemetery Grave of parents

3491 Private John Stanley SGELTON 9 LHR RH#21

Newspaper article detailing Tom Flynn's tragic demise

The Bullecourt Digger - the famous bronze statue of a digger looking across the Bullecourt battlefield from the town cemetery. Steve Larkins colelction

A Spitfire Mk XIV in the colours of No. 91 Sqn summer of 1944

938 Private William George SYMS

England. 1944-06-11. Group of aircrew at No. 180 squadron RAF. Left to right: 405107 Flying Officer (FO) W. Kirk, Brisbane, QLD (KIA 20 June 1944); 405054 FO B. W. Klemm, Brisbane, QLD; 415259 FO H. Hawthorn, Hastings, NZ; 417379 Flight Sergeant J. Jennison, Adelaide, SA; 422248 FO J. B. O'Halloran, Sydney, NSW; 422080 FO R. M. Kennard, Canberra, ACT.

A photograph taken on 10 July 1918. Two men of the 7th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery operate a mortar established in a machine gun post on the new front line. From left to right: 1916 Lance Corporal A J Ellis and 2700 Private A Lawler. This position was part of a few hundred yards captured from the enemy in a silent daylight raid on 9 July by a party of the 27th Battalion. The location is just east of Villers-Bretonneux between the railway and the south side of the Amiens-St Quentin main road, alongside a position called 'The Orchard'. A fine example of the "peaceful penetration" tactics employed by the Australians at this time.

9th-Light-Horse-9th-Light-Horse-crossing-the-Suez-Canal-at-Serapeum-Egypt-in-February-1916

The Burnside Primary School Memorial Gates, officially dedicated in 1925 to former students who lost their lives in the Great War.

Flying Officer David Payne Croston, 463 Squadron.

RAN Badge

This image is of a soldier from the 10th battalion at Mena Camp, Egypt playing with a kangaroo, which was the regimental mascot. The soldiers in the background are from the 9th and 10th Battalions, and they are looking towards the pyramids.

845, Jack Reginald KENYON, of Prospect SA

Military Medal

WW1 post 31 Dec 1915 embarkation. L-R Military Medal British War Medal, Victory Medal,

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.

Vietnam War Memorial, Adelaide, South Australia

The ubiquitous DH 82 Tiger Moth, backbone of the Empire Air Training Scheme and the aircraft in which Tom Tobin learned to fly. http://www.stephanschutze.com/uploads/3/1/0/6/3106267/1942_tigermoth_01.jpg

PORTRAIT OF 1388 CORPORAL WALTER HENRY FRAME (MM AND BAR), 21ST FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE (SEATED, LEFT) WITH HIS BROTHER GEORGE FRAME, MEMBER OF A BRITISH ARTILLERY UNIT.

THE STAFF OF THE DENTAL SECTION, 105 CASUALTY CLEARING STATION. IDENTIFIED PERSONNEL ARE:- CPL F. JAMES (1); STAFF SERGEANT C.H. FERRIS (2); CAPT W.J. STONEY (3); PTE C.F.W. SPAR (4).

1613 Richard William KIRBY 3rd Light Horse Regiment / 1st LH Machine Gun Squadron

Newspaper CLippings recording the 1938 bout, the first of three in succession won by PC Tom Tobin