Memorial Articles

Lyle Chase died the day the First World War ended. He had enlisted with his younger brother, William, and was serving in the 6th Australian Light Horse Regiment in the Middle East when he became dangerously ill during the last days of the war.

Graham Taylor was 19 years old when his platoon came under attack in Vietnam.

There are a multitude of stories recorded in the letters and diaries held at the Memorial that reflect on the signing of the Armistice and the war coming to an end.

When Bill Newton said goodbye to his mother, he told her not to worry, that if something happened to him, she was not to make a fuss. She never saw him again.

Slim de Grey was left devastated when his best mate was taken from Changi to Sandakan during the Second World War. Shortly after he composed the song They’ve Taken My Old Pal Away. It put into words how many of the men at Changi felt about being separated from their mates.

When Sister Betty Jeffrey stood before her fellow prisoners of war in Sumatra and started to sing, she could almost forget where she was.

When Andy Harrison was a child growing up in Sydney, there was a painting of a ship hanging on the wall of his family home. It had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember, but it wasn’t until he was older that he understood its significance.

On 20 October 1992 two Australian officers landed in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia and a city wracked by civil war.

Dayle Shafer was going through a box of her father’s things after he died when she found an old silver cigarette case and lighter. They were beautifully engraved with the initials C.G.W., but no one knew where they came from or who they belonged to.