WWI Archives - CONTACT magazine

Private William Higgs’ newly installed headstone at Commonwealth War Graves Commission's (CWGC) Crucifix Corner Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, France. Story. by Aaron Pegram. Photo courtesy of CWGC.

Search goes on for the lost but not forgotten

12/11/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 716 Views 0 Comments Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Unrecovered War Casualties – Army (UWC-A), Villers-Bretonneux, WWI

On Remembrance Day, as Australians reflect on the sacrifice of those who have served, the Manager of Unrecovered War Casualties

Photos of Lieutenant McWilliam, foreground right, and Captain McWilliam, foreground left; his diary, back left, and his midshipman’s journal, back right. Story and photo by Lieutenant Commander John Thompson.

ADF People History Lest We Forget Royal Australian Navy

Extraordinary tale behind extraordinary documents

18/09/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 713 Views 0 Comments AWM, WWI

The story of coincidence, persistence and happenstance – a set of historic documents uncovered at the Australian High Commission in

Second Lieutenant Cecil Healy is the only Australian Olympian to have died in combat.

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Remembering Aussie Olympic Gold medalist killed in action

24/07/202430/07/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 987 Views 0 Comments France, WWI

Olympians Kaarle McCulloch and Michelle Ford have honoured the memory of Cecil Healy, the only Australian Olympic gold medallist to die

Leading Seaman Peta Binns' great-great uncle, 2nd Lieutenant George Oakley Newton, is circled in a photo of his cadet class. Story by Leading Seaman Peta Binns. Photo supplied by Australian War Memorial (P00864.001).

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Feeling the weight of a military legacy – Anzac Day

03/05/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 747 Views 0 Comments ANZAC Day, Gallipoli, WWI

A pilgrimage to Anzac Cove prompted Leading Seaman Peta Binns to reflect on the sacrifice and valour etched into her

Singer-guitarist Bill Waterhouse performs at the Majors Creek Anzac Day service. Story and photos by Corporal Luke Bellman.

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Honouring shared history among the magpies – Anzac Day

02/05/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 591 Views 0 Comments ANZAC Day, Vietnam War, WWI

The warble of magpies and chuckling of kookaburras filled the country air at Majors Creek as residents marched behind Australian

Leading Aircraftwoman Hunter Westbrook, of Australia’s Federation Guard, visits the resting place of her distant cousin, Private Victor Westbrook, at the Bailleul Communal Cemetery in Northern France. Story by Flight Lieutenant Lily Lancaster. Photos by Sergeant Oliver Carter.

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Cousins ‘unite’ in France a century later – Anzac Day

23/04/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 804 Views 0 Comments ANZAC Day, Australia’s Federation Guard, AWM, Villers-Bretonneux, WWI

As told by Leading Aircraftwoman Hunter Westbrook, of Australia’s Federation Guard, to Flight Lieutenant Lily Lancaster. CAPTION: Leading Aircraftwoman Hunter Westbrook,

Australia's Federation Guard members, Corporal Michael Byrne, left, Able Seaman Christopher Innis and Corporal Julie Kling with photos of their relatives at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Story by Captain Karam Louli. Photos by Leading Seaman Susan Mossop.

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Honouring past relatives on French soil – Anzac Day

23/04/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 777 Views 0 Comments ANZAC Day, Australia’s Federation Guard, Villers-Bretonneux, WWI

Almost 106 years after guns fell silent in the battle of Villers-Bretonneux, one of the descendants of a soldier killed

Navy sailor Able Seaman Rachel Brandt at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Story and photos by Corporal Luke Bellman.

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Family history motivates Defence service – Anzac Day

23/04/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 432 Views 0 Comments ANZAC Day, AWM, WWI

A booby trap detonated and collapsed the Bapaume town hall in France on March 25, 1917, killing Lance Corporal Jules

The bronze statue honouring Sister Greta Towner's service in Blackall’s Memorial Park, Queensland. Story by Captain Cath Batch. Photos by Major Edward Dahlheimer.

ADF People Health and Wellbeing History Lest We Forget

Nursing service wrought in bronze

17/11/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 930 Views 0 Comments Service Nurses, WWI

Once just a name on the Blackall State School honour roll in Queensland, Sister Greta Towner (1891-1961), who served as

Wreaths adorn the foot of the Loxton Avro Anson Crash Memorial in Loxton, South Australia. Photos by Sergeant Nicci Freeman.

ADF People History Lest We Forget Veterans

Lost airmen remembered 80 years on

10/10/202310/10/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 983 Views 0 Comments RAAF Edinburgh, WWI, WWII

RAAF Edinburgh aviators joined the Air Force Association (South Australia) in commemorating the 80th anniversary of a crash that resulted

The Australian Imperial Force Mouquet Farm Memorial near the village of Pozières, France. Story and photos by Corporal Jacob Joseph.

ADF People Europe History Lest We Forget

Mates first, then and now

30/08/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 1184 Views 0 Comments 31st/42nd Battalion Royal Queensland Regiment, France, Pozières, WWI

Private Wayne Drage’s voice wavered as he spoke about the day his great-great uncle was wounded during the battle of

The Brothers in Arms memorial to Privates James and John Hunter near Ypres, Belgium. Story and photos by Corporal Jacob Joseph.

ADF People Europe History Lest We Forget

Soldiers retrace diggers’ footsteps

30/08/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 1477 Views 0 Comments 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, Battle of Polygon Wood, Belgium, WWI, Ypres

On the night he died in 1977, Jim Hunter called for his older brother Jack. CAPTION: The Brothers in Arms memorial

Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award ambassador Corporal Justin Wells picks a poppy beside the Le Hamel Australian Corps Memorial, France. Story and photos by Corporal Jacob Joseph.

ADF People Europe Lest We Forget

On the spot of an heroic stand

29/08/202329/08/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 1443 Views 0 Comments France, Victoria Cross, Villers-Bretonneux, WWI

Walking in the footsteps of a Victoria Cross (VC) recipient from World War I gave a Jonathan Church Good Soldiering

Australian Army Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award ambassador Corporal Justin Wells, beside the headstone of Gunner William Tasker at Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux France. Story and photos by Corporal Jacob Joseph.

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Wallabies seek inspiration from our fallen

25/08/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 746 Views 0 Comments ADF Sport, France, Last Post, Villers-Bretonneux, WWI

It was one of the most stunning battlefield victories and the beginning of the end of WW1. CAPTION: Australian Army

An Australian soldier inspects the barrel of the Amiens Gun located at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Story and photo by Private Nicholas Marquis.

Australian Army History News

Big gun with an even bigger story

03/02/2023 Posted by Mike Hughes 1929 Views 1 Comment AWM, WWI

Firing 300kg shells more than 25km, this astonishing piece of hardware is described as the finest trophy captured by any

Australian Army soldier Corporal Jake Bostock talks with Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, AO, DSC. Story by Captain Cody Tsaousis. Photo by Sergeant Tristan Kennedy.

ADF People History

Corporal continues family’s Gallipoli legacy

16/12/2022 Posted by Mike Hughes 1842 Views 0 Comments Gallipoli Barracks, WWI, WWII

The Australian Defence Force has a rich history of family legacies being carried on through the generations. CAPTION: Australian Army

Australian Army personnel ready to take up the Australian flag from the coffin of Australian WWI soldiers being re-interred in Belgium. The soldiers were finally laid to rest after being thought missing for 90 years. Story by Corporal Jacob Joseph. Photo by Corporal Chris Moore.

Australian Lest We Forget News Veterans

Three previously unknown WWI soldiers identified

18/11/202229/11/2022 Posted by Mike Hughes 1012 Views 0 Comments 8th Brigade, Remembrance Day, WWI

The names of three unknown Australian soldiers, who died during some of the bloodiest fighting of World War 1, were

Leonard McLeod visits a memorial garden at Kokoda Army Barracks. Story by Leading Seaman Kylie Jagiello. Photo by Leading Aircraftwoman Kate Czerny.

ADF People History Veterans

Return to Canungra evokes memories of service

12/10/2022 Posted by Mike Hughes 1320 Views 0 Comments C-47 Dakota, Canungra, WWI, WWII

Despite watching his father die from respiratory problems after being gassed in WW1, a young Leonard McLeod was determined to

Lieutenant Kurt O’Neill and Sergeant Steven Banks, from the School of Armour, present WW2 veteran, 101-year-old Bertram (Bert) Sutton, with an Aussie Hero Quilt at his home in Numurkah, Victoria.

ADF People History Veterans

WW2 veteran honoured with hero quilt

29/06/2022 Posted by Mike Hughes 1703 Views 0 Comments Aussie Hero Quilts, School of Armour, WWI, WWII

World War 2 veteran, Private Bertram (Bert) Sutton, has been honoured with the presentation of a hero quilt by the

Lieutenant Colonel Chris McKay at the memorial for the Battle of Semakh, at Kinneret Academic College, Israel. Story by Petty Officer Lee-Anne Cooper. Photo by Petty Officer Lee-Anne Cooper.

Australian Army History News

Bravery of Light Horse cavalry charge recognised

17/05/2022 Posted by Mike Hughes 3212 Views 1 Comment Light Horse Regiment, WWI

How brave must someone be to charge on horseback at night when the ground can’t be seen? A clue to

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