From pursuing Russian submarines during the Cold War to the search for MH370, the Orion is one of the RAAF’s quiet achievers. But to Wing Commander Marija ‘Maz’ Jovanovich, it’s like a much-loved old friend.

Private George Giles had just fought in the battle of Morlancourt in July 1918 when a tall, thin man in glasses approached and asked if he could have his uniform and kit. The mud-encrusted uniform is now on display at the Memorial and features in a new highlights audio tour.

When Ethel Freeth was told that her son, Flight Sergeant John Freeth, had been killed during the Second World War, she refused to believe it. She was convinced he had survived the crash and never gave up hope of finding him alive.

The Australian War Memorial has a huge collection of items on paper encompassing Australia’s wartime experience from the Boer War to the present day. The conservation of these important pieces of history is the job of our paper lab team. The paper lab recently received a new acquisition, a drawing by an unknown artist titled “Soldier from the Army Medical Corps” (ART94358)

Charles Gatliff was one of five brothers who served in artillery brigades on the battlefields of the First World War. For two and a half years he wrote to his father and mother every few days with detailed stories about life on the front line, and routines and simple pleasures away from the fighting.

Jill Miles grew up hearing stories about her great uncle, Leslie Maygar, and would take his Victoria Cross to school.

When the Lahey brothers went away to war, their 32-year-old sister Vida was determined to join them.

On 17 January 1915 an Australian soldier at Mena Camp in Egypt, Private Arthur Adams, noted in his diary: “Wedding in camp. Private of 10th marries a S.A. girl, who comes via England.” But who were the bride and groom?

When Jim Burrowes went to war in January 1942, he came from a family of seven. By the time he returned, his family of seven had been reduced to three.