Australian War Memorial Digitisation project – Seeking further information
Digitised Collections
The Australian War Memorial is digitising items from the National Collection: preserving records of wartime experiences and creating a comprehensive digital archive of Australian servicemen, servicewomen, nurses, and civilians, their deeds, and of the wider Australian experience of war, making them available for research and study via the Memorial’s website.
Are you related?
As part of this project the Memorial is seeking contact with relatives of the persons listed below. If are you related to these people, or in contact with their descendants, the Memorial would love to talk to you. Please contact Digitised Collections via email on Digitised.Collections@awm.gov.au
Click on any of the names in the table below to read more about the person.
Collection Number: PR85/352
Antonin Horcicka
A native of Prague, Antonin Horcicka (10 July 1914–22 September 1987) served with the Czech Army during the early stages of the Second World War before attempting to escape the conflict with his pregnant wife in 1940. He was turned over to the Gestapo in Yugoslavia and sent to Dachau Concentration Camp in October 1940. He escaped from Dachau several weeks before its liberation in late April 1945, and immigrated to Australia with his wife and two children in 1950.
Horcicka settled in Sydney, and remarried in 1966. He and his second wife, Freda Lorna Daphne Phillips (26 April 1923–18 March 2014), operated a business in Hurstville, and resided in the suburb of Ultimo until the mid-1970s, when they settled in Connells Point.
Records indicate that Horcicka’s first wife, Anna (17 October 1919–7 April 2011), moved to Orange with her two children sometime before 1960. She was working as a nurse around this period, married Sava Jan Lochmann during the mid-1960s and remained in Orange.
Records indicate Horcicka’s two children, son Lubos Horcicka (5 December 1940) and daughter Jan (also known as Jana) Horcicka (10 September 1946) were also long-time residents of Orange. Lubos Horcicka married Maree Wadey in 1964, and the two enjoyed long nursing careers in the Central West region of New South Wales.
Josko Baselj
Josko Baselj was interned at Dachau Concentration Camp during the Second World War. Based on his last name and a letter written by Baselj, it appears the author was most likely a Slovene from the former Yugoslavia. His fate following the liberation of the camp in late April 1945 is unknown.
Jean de la Lune (Leune)
Jean de la Lune (possibly spelt Leune) was interned at Dachau Concentration Camp during the Second World War. Based on a letter written by de la Lune, the author was most likely from France or a French-speaking country. This person’s fate following the liberation of the camp in late April 1945 is unknown.
Waclaw Kaminski
Waclaw Kaminski was a priest based at Golin in Poland before being interned at Dachau Concentration Camp during the Second World War. After the liberation of the camp in late April 1945, Kaminski returned to his hometown of Golin in September 1945.
Ion Radu
Ion Radu was interned at Dachau Concentration Camp during the Second World War. Based on a letter written by Radu, it appears the author was Romanian. This person’s fate following the liberation of the camp in late April 1945 is unknown.
K. Rubo (first name unknown)
Rubo was interned at Dachau Concentration Camp during the Second World War. Based on a letter written by Rubo, it appears the author was from the former Yugoslavia. This person’s fate following the liberation of the camp in late April 1945 is unknown.
Jan Rulf
Jan Rulf operated a firm under his own name in the Prague suburb of Karlin in August 1945.
Ivan Sedlacek
Ivan Sedlacek was born at Glamoc in Croatia (now part of Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 13 August 1909. Sedlacek was a Belgrade-based journalist before the outbreak of the Second World War. He was interned at Dachau Concentration Camp on 2 February 1942, and given the prison number 29194. His fate following the liberation of the camp is unknown.
Sirovo (first name unknown)
Sirovo was interned at Dachau Concentration Camp during the Second World War. This person’s fate following the liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp in late April 1945 is unknown.
Emil Wagner
Emil Wagner was born on 17 April 1917 at Lahr in western Germany, and was living at Strasbourg before the outbreak of the Second World War. He was interned at Dachau Concentration Camp in December 1941 and assigned the prison number 28801. His fate following the liberation of the camp in late April 1945 is unknown.
Frank C. Stanek
Frank C. Stanek was secretary of the Czechoslovak Ex-Serviceman League, New South Wales Branch, in 1972. He resided in the Sydney suburb of Lindfield during the 1970s and died in February 1978. His wife Frances returned to Czechoslovakia shortly after his death, and died in her country of origin in July 1979.
Alexander Joseph Tokoly
Alexander Joseph Tokoly (12 January 1923–1986) was president of the Czechoslovak Ex-Serviceman League, New South Wales Branch, in 1972. He immigrated to Australia with his wife Maria Tokoly (27 June 1924–27 December 1973) during the post-war period, and was residing in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst during the 1950s. Records indicate the couple moved to Chatswood during the 1960s and lived there throughout the 1970s.
John Guarino
John (Giovanni) Guarino (unknown–5 December 2012) immigrated to Australia from Italy with his wife Ileana (unknown– 20 August 2016), disembarking at Fremantle in September 1958. Records indicate the couple settled in the Sydney suburb of Kingsford during the 1960s, and were still residing in the suburb during the early 1980s. During much of this period Guarino was working as an interpreter/translator with the Migrant Information Service section of the Commonwealth Bank.
Leo Mamontoff
Leo Mamontoff (8 January 1922–25 August 2017) immigrated to Australia with Natalia (also known as Natalie) Mamontoff (14 April 1918–24 February 1966). The pair resided in the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, while Leo Mamontoff was employed as a sheet metal worker. By 1972, he was residing at Wollstonecraft and was employed as an interpreter/translator with the Migrant Information Service section of the Commonwealth Bank. Around this time he married Irene Mamontoff (unknown–8 December 2008). Born in Egypt, Irene was the daughter of Russian refugees and arrived in Australia during the post-war period. A psychologist by profession and published in her field, she was employed by the Department of Corrections in New South Wales for an extended period.
Juan Alberto Sanchez
Juan Alberto Sanchez (15 July 1935) and his future wife, Maria Luisa Blanco (7 October 1936), both immigrated to Australia from Spain in June 1961, arriving separately several days apart. Sanchez moved to Queensland the following year, and spent time at Innisfail before settling in Brisbane, where he married Maria in February 1963. The couple moved to Ingham around 1965, where Sanchez started working as an interpreter/translator with the Migrant Information Service section of the Commonwealth Bank. The couple moved to Sydney during the 1970s and settled in the suburb of Smithfield, with Sanchez continuing his employment with the Commonwealth Bank.
George Stoykov
George Stoykov (unknown–19 August 1995) immigrated to Australia with his wife, Zora (15 September 1915–May 1961), during the early 1950s. He was residing at Cooma in southern New South Wales in 1954 but relocated to Sydney by 1955, where he worked for the Sydney Water Board. Records indicate he was employed as an interpreter/translator with the Migrant Information Service section of the Commonwealth Bank during the late 1960s, and remained in this role until at least 1980. During much of this period he was a resident of Bondi.
Savo Tory
Savo Tory (22 June 1919–19 April 2002) immigrated to Australia in 1950 with his wife, Enia (17 March 1915), and son, Cristiano Paolo (30 June 1940). Records indicate he was working as a grocer during the 1950s and resided at Surrey Hills during this period. By 1963 he was working as an interpreter/translator, and joined the Migrant Information Service section of the Commonwealth Bank during the 1960s or 1970s. Tory relocated to Coogee during the mid to late 1970s, where he remained until his death in 2002. His son Cristiano Paolo Tory married Florence Margaret Borden in Sydney in 1962.
Marta Irene Zielinski
Born in Hungary, Marta Irene Zielinski (3 October 1922–30 April 2018) married Polish diplomat Dr Ryzard (also known as Richard) Stanislaw Zielinski (unknown–27 February 2003). The couple and their two children arrived in Australia in 1957 after Ryzard was posted to the Polish Consulate in Sydney. They remained in Australia after successfully applying for political asylum in 1961.
Records indicate Marta was working as an economist in 1963, and joined the Migrant Information Service section of the Commonwealth Bank during the 1960s or 1970s. The couple initially resided in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne before relocating to Roseville in the 1970s.
Marta’s son by a former marriage, Victor Zielinski, was a senior surgeon at Westmead Hospital in Sydney for over 30 years, and spent a period of time at Maitland Private Hospital. Marta and her husband Ryzard raised a daughter, Marta Zielinski, also known as Marti.
Collection Number: PR88/009
James Murdoch Archer Durrant
James Murdoch Archer Durrant (17 March 1885–18 August 1963) was a senior officer in the Australian Army. He joined the volunteer forces as a bugler with the Adelaide Rifles in 1899, and embarked on a career as a permanent soldier after enlisting in 1907. During the First World War he commanded the 13th Infantry Battalion and the 4th Infantry Brigade before postings to senior administrative and organisational roles from December 1917. His service extended into the later stages of the Second World War in a number of senior roles that reinforced his reputation as a highly capable leader and administrator. He was discharged from duty in April 1944, closing a long and decorated military career with the rank of major general.
Durrant married Clara Ellen Birk (29 April 1890–26 April 1980) at St. Johns Anglican Church in Parramatta on 7 December 1910. Their only surviving child, John Henley Durrant (16 April 1919–7 December 2000) enlisted in the Army on 29 February 1936, and emulated much of his father’s success by rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel before his discharge from duty in April 1972. He married Lillian Betty Bedggood (14 August 1919–2 October 2003) at Christ Church in Darwin on 16 August 1941. Records indicate the couple moved to Melbourne during the early 1940s, where they remained and raised a family.
Bernard Blythman
Bernard Blythman (15 July 1880–10 November 1951) enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 1 October 1916. He served with the 13th Infantry Battalion in England, France and Belgium before being discharged with the rank of lieutenant in December 1919.
Originally from Oxfordshire in England, Blythman immigrated to Australia in 1911. He settled in Sydney and married Dorothy Vivian Roberts (12 January 1884–23 November 1957) at St. James’ Church in Sydney on 24 June 1913. The couple had two children: son Hilton Charles Bernard (30 June 1914–18 June 1963) and daughter Winifred Rosemary (30 April 1921–30 July 2017).
Records indicate that Hilton Charles Bernard was unmarried and without children at the time of his death. Winifred Rosemary (more commonly known by her middle name) married Lyall Francis Howe at St. John’s Church in Toorak, Melbourne, on 18 September 1947. It appears the couple initially lived in Melbourne and moved to Canberra at some point during 1950s before Rosemary relocated to Sydney with her two children.
John Lawrence Whitham
John Lawrence Whitham (7 October 1881–12 May 1952), a senior officer in the Australian Army, completed a long and distinguished career in the military that spanned three major conflicts. Born in India, he moved to Hobart with his family in 1886 and joined the volunteer forces in 1898. He served with the 3rd Battalion during the Boer War, and embarked on a permanent military career after enlisting in 1910. During the First World War, he served with distinction in a number of senior roles, and subsequently commanded the Volunteer Defence Corps in Victoria during the Second World War. He retired from duty in 1946 as a lieutenant general.
Whitham married Olive Young (1885–2 February 1988), at St. John’s Church in the village of Littlewick Green in Berkshire on 12 April 1920. He returned to Tasmania with his wife and step-son in 1921, but subsequently spent time in Queensland and Victoria before settling in Sydney. Whitham was survived by his wife, a step-son, Edward Carder Young (15 July 1910–14 April 1985) of Mittagong near Exeter in Tasmania, and a step-daughter, Peggie Grace Langley (1912–2012) of Sydney. His surviving siblings included Benjamin Yates (30 August 1884–17 May 1964) and Leonora (also known as Nora) Gibson (1 October 1895–7 October 1988), both of whom resided in Hobart.
Collection Number: PR90/103
Kenneth Tebbet Johnson
Kenneth Tebbet Johnson (29 March 1920–7 April 2007) was born at Perth to parents Henry and Gertrude Eliza (née Wells). He graduated from Old Perth Boys School and subsequently attended Perth Technical College over two stints separated by the Second World War. During the first spell at college he started working at Cooks Travel Service before accepting a position at City Mutual Life Assurance Society, a company he remained with until retirement.
After a failed attempt to join the Royal Australian Navy due to his age, Johnson enlisted with the Australian Army on 3 November 1939 using a false date of birth. He subsequently served with the 2/11th Infantry Battalion in North Africa and Greece until captured by German forces in 1941. From Greece he was sent to Oflag VII-B, a prisoner of war camp in Germany, where he remained until his release in 1944. Johnson was repatriated to Australia and discharged from duty on 5 October 1945 with the rank of lieutenant.
Johnson married Nancy Mercer (7 April 1920) at St. Margaret’s Presbyterian Church in Perth on 16 August 1946. The couple settled in the Perth suburb of Ardross, where they remained for an extended period and raised a family. Johnson was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the military in 1962.
Hector McLean Binks
Hector McLean Binks (6 September 1909–13 May 1989), was a senior officer during the Second World War. Born Hector McLean Morton at Ayr on the south-west coast of Scotland, he assumed his step-father’s last name after his mother remarried in 1917. He immigrated to Australia with his family in May 1920, and subsequently settled in Perth. Records indicate he married Gwendoline (maiden name and date of birth unknown) in 1929.
It appears that Binks joined the Militia at some point during the 1930s, and was promoted to the provisional rank of lieutenant in May 1937. He enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 24 October 1939, and rapidly rose through the ranks to that of a lieutenant colonel by the time of his discharge in January 1946.
Records indicate that Binks and his wife resided in North Perth during the 1940s, but settled at City Beach by the 1950s, where they remained for an extended period and raised a family.
Ralph Honner
Hyacinth Ralph Honner, (17 August 1904–14 May 1994), known by his middle name, was one of Australia’s best-known officers of the Second World War. He attended Perth Modern School and graduated as a teacher, but after two years in the profession pivoted to pursue a law career, graduating from the University of Western Australia in 1933. He married Marjory Collier Bennett (4 September 1905–14 May 1994) at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in West Perth on 2 June 1934, and was admitted to the Western Australian Bar in July 1935.
Honner joined the Militia in June 1936, and enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force in October 1939. He subsequently served with distinction in a number of commanding roles, and was awarded the Military Cross for his actions in Greece during 1941. He returned to Australia in May 1942 and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel before departing for Papua as commanding officer of the 39th Battalion. During this deployment he orchestrated an effective defence and fighting withdrawal along the Kokoda Trail, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his role in the capture of beachheads at Gona on the Papuan coast.
Following the disbanding of the 39th Battalion in July 1934, Honner assumed command of the 2/14th Battalion. He was seriously wounded in the hip in 1943, which ended his active service. He was discharged from duty on 3 January 1945, and relocated to Sydney after accepting the role of chairman of the War Pensions Assessment Tribunal, a position he held until 1968. Later that year he was appointed the Australian ambassador to Ireland, and served in this role until 1972 before returning to Sydney. Honner and his wife raised four children.
Lorna Kelly (née Donaldson)
Lorna Kelly (née Donaldson) (21 April 1918–31 May 1999) was born at Sunderland in the north-east of England, the youngest daughter of master mariner John Fearon Donaldson and Isabel Day (née Sanderson). She immigrated to Australia with her family during the 1920s, and initially resided in the Perth suburb of Redcliffe before moving to Mount Helena on the outskirts of the city during the mid-1930s.
Lorna married Walter Thompson Kelly (11 October 1912–31 August 1997) on 30 June 1938 at Perth, and continued living at the family property at Mount Helena throughout the 1940s. Records indicate the couple moved to the Perth suburb of Kensington during the early 1950s before permanently relocating to Adelaide. Her brother, WX1038 Private Edward Donaldson, was killed in action on 19 April 1941 while serving in Greece.
Donald Allan Mercer
Donald Allan Mercer (27 July 1917–18 September 1982) was born at Perth in Western Australia, the eldest son of prominent merchant Benjamin and Edith Alice (née McLean). He was employed as a clerk when he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 2 April 1940. He was attached to the 2/11th Infantry Battalion and embarked for service in the Middle East several weeks later, but experienced a succession of health issues and was declared medically unfit for service on 26 July 1940. He departed the Middle East in November 1940 and returned to Perth, where he was discharged on 29 January 1941.
Following his discharge, Mercer resumed work as a clerk. He married Hermina Agnes Snook at St. Hilda’s Anglican Church in Perth on 21 March 1942. The couple settled in the suburb of Coolbinia, where they raised a family and were still residing in the early 1980s.
Thomas Steane Louch
Thomas Steane Louch (30 March 1894 - March 1979) served as an officer in both the First and Second World Wars, and completed a distinguished legal career that spanned 50 years. Born at Geraldton on the mid-west coast of Western Australia to Archdeacon Thomas Louch and Mary Grace (née Baston), he spent much of his childhood at Albany, where he joined the volunteer forces prior to the outbreak of the First World War.
Louch was employed as a law clerk when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 17 August 1914. He served at Gallipoli, where he was wounded and subsequently repatriated to Australia. After a period of convalescence he re-enlisted and served on the Western Front. He was awarded the Military Cross for services during the Battle of Pozieres and Mouquet Farm during August and September 1916, and was mentioned in despatches on three occasions.
Following his discharge from duty in August 1919, Louch completed his law studies and was admitted to the Western Australian Bar in 1920. He quickly established himself as a respected member of Perth’s legal fraternity, and was appointed King’s Counsel in July 1947. He retired from the Bar in 1970.
Louch demonstrated both ambition and dedication to the military in parallel to his law career, joining the Militia following the end of the First World War and rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel in September 1937. He served as a commanding officer in North Africa and Greece during the Second World War until discharged from duty in February 1943.
Louch did not marry during his lifetime, and had one sibling, Mary Grace Louch (31 October 1890 - January 1979). She married Herbert Bowen Hamilin (14 September 1885 - 30 May 1919) at St. John’s Church in Albany on 13 January 1916. The couple had one child, Patricia Mary Hamlin (31 October 1916 - 25 November 2009).
Collection Number: 3DRL/3662
James (Jim) Hutchison Shearer
James (Jim) Hutchison Shearer was born at Maclean, New South Wales, on 9 July 1883 to William Geddes and Isabella (née Kirk). He moved to the Darling Downs with his family in 1901, where he farmed a property at Cambooya before moving on to a property at Clifton with several brothers. In 1915 Shearer and two of his brothers, John and Bruce, established Australian Co-operative Fertilizers Ltd. (ACF), a company that operated a mixing and bone crushing plant at Runcorn, south of Brisbane.
Shearer enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 29 September 1916. He embarked from Sydney with the 15th Infantry Battalion aboard HMAT Beltana on 25 November 1916. While in Belgium and France he served as a stretcher bearer during a number of major operations, and was awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry during the Battle of Polygon Wood in September 1917. He returned to Australia aboard the liner Miltiades, disembarking at Sydney on 8 August 1919 before entraining for Brisbane.
Following his return to Queensland, Shearer resumed work with ACF. The company merged with Shirleys Fertilizers Pty. Ltd. of Sydney in 1928, and subsequently experienced a period of rapid expansion, with Shearer acting in a variety of senior roles including that of company director. He remained with ACF (later known as North Queensland Fertilizers & Chemicals) until his retirement in 1954, but continued to serve on the company’s advisory board.
Shearer married Muriel Audrey Weiske at Christ Church of England in Bundaberg on 20 May 1931. The couple permanently settled in Cairns during the 1930s. After retiring, he devoted greater attention to his long-standing association with Legacy, the RSL and the Presbyterian Church in Cairns. James Hutchison Shearer died on 27 August 1975; his wife Muriel Audrey Shearer, died on 13 March 1995.
Shearer was a member of a large family that included siblings John (1876–1934), David Kirk (1877–1911), Catherine (1879–1956), Donald Sinclair (1880–1937), William Geddes (1881–1921), Bruce (1888–1971), and Margaret Jean (1894–date unknown).