John Lloyd Waddy, OBE, DFC (10 December 1916 – 11 September 1987) was a senior officer and aviator in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and later served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and as a minister in the New South Wales government. As a fighter pilot during World War II, he shot down 15 enemy aircraft during the North African campaign, becoming one of Australia's top-scoring aces and earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. Waddy went on to command No. 80 Squadron in the South West Pacific, where he was awarded the US Air Medal. He was one of eight senior pilots who took part in the "Morotai Mutiny" of April 1945.

Discharged from the Permanent Air Force at the end of the war, Waddy took a commission in the RAAF Reserve and led the organisation as a group captain in the early 1950s. He was active in business and in veterans' groups, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1955. From 1962 to 1976, he was the Member for Kirribilli in the New South Wales Parliament, representing the Liberal Party. He held cabinet posts including Minister for Child Welfare and Social Welfare (later Youth and Community Services), Minister for Health, and Minister for Police and Services. Waddy retired from politics in 1976, and died in 1987 at the age of 70. (Full article...)

Lawrence Carthage Weathers, VC (14 May 1890 – 29 September 1918) was a New Zealand-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in battle that could be awarded to a member of the Australian armed forces at the time. His parents returned to their native South Australia when Weathers was seven, and he completed his schooling before obtaining work as an undertaker in Adelaide. He enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in early 1916, and joined the 43rd Battalion. His unit deployed to the Western Front in France and Belgium in late December. After a bout of illness, Weathers returned to his battalion in time to take part in the Battle of Messines in June 1917, during which he was wounded. Evacuated to the United Kingdom, he rejoined his unit in early December.

Promoted to lance corporal in March 1918, Weathers fought with his battalion during the German spring offensive, but was gassed in May and did not return to his unit until the following month. He participated in the Battle of Hamel in July, the Battle of Amiens in August, and the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin in September. At Mont Saint-Quentin he was recommended for the award of the Victoria Cross. Promoted to temporary corporal, he was mortally wounded in the head by a shell on 29 September during the Battle of St Quentin Canal, and died soon after, unaware that he was to receive the Victoria Cross, which was not announced until late December. Until 2016, his Victoria Cross was in private hands, but in that year it was purchased at auction and donated to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, where it is displayed in the Hall of Valour. (Full article...)

Lieutenant General Sir Alwyn Ragnar Garrett, KBE, CB (12 February 1900 – 4 November 1977) was a senior commander in the Australian Army. He served as Chief of the General Staff (CGS) from 1958 to 1960.

Born in Western Australia, Garrett graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1921. He was adjutant and quartermaster in several regiments of the Australian Light Horse before undertaking staff training in England, which he completed just as the Second World War broke out. Garrett joined the Second Australian Imperial Force soon afterwards, and commanded the 2/31st Battalion in England before seeing action with Australian brigades in Greece and Crete in 1941. Promoted to colonel the following year, he held senior positions with I Corps in New Guinea and II Corps on Bougainville in 1944–1945. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his staff work. (Full article...)

Louis Thomas Spence, DFC & Bar (4 April 1917 – 9 September 1950) was a fighter pilot and squadron commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). During World War II, he flew with No. 3 Squadron, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), and commanded No. 452 Squadron, receiving a Mention in Despatches. He led No. 77 Squadron in the opening months of the Korean War, and was awarded a bar to his DFC, the US Legion of Merit, and the US Air Medal, for his leadership.

Born in Bundaberg, Queensland, Spence worked in a bank before joining the RAAF in March 1940. In August the following year he was posted to North Africa with No. 3 Squadron, which operated P-40 Tomahawks and Kittyhawks against German and Italian forces; he was credited with shooting down two German aircraft. Spence commanded No. 452 Squadron in 1944, flying Supermarine Spitfires in defence of Australia's North-Western Area against the Japanese. After a brief return to civilian life following World War II, he rejoined the RAAF in October 1946. He took command of No. 77 Squadron, operating P-51 Mustangs as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, in February 1950. The squadron went into action within a week of the outbreak of the Korean War in June. Spence was killed during a low-level mission over South Korea in September 1950. (Full article...)

The Australian Air Corps (AAC) was a temporary formation of the Australian military that existed in the period between the disbandment of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) of World War I and the establishment of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1921. Raised in January 1920, the AAC was commanded by Major William Anderson, a former AFC pilot. Many of the AAC's members were also from the AFC and would go on to join the RAAF. Although part of the Australian Army, for most of its existence the AAC was overseen by a board of senior officers that included members of the Royal Australian Navy.

Following the disbandment of the AFC, the AAC was a stop-gap measure intended to remain in place until the formation of a permanent and independent Australian air force. The corps' primary purpose was to maintain assets of the Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria, but several pioneering activities also took place under its auspices: AAC personnel set an Australian altitude record that stood for a decade, made the first non-stop flight between Sydney and Melbourne, and undertook the country's initial steps in the field of aviation medicine. The AAC operated fighters, bombers and training aircraft, including some of the first examples of Britain's Imperial Gift to arrive in Australia. As well as personnel, the RAAF inherited Point Cook and most of its initial equipment from the AAC. (Full article...)

Air Vice Marshal Adrian Lindley Trevor Cole, CBE, DSO, MC, DFC (19 June 1895 – 14 February 1966) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Joining the army at the outbreak of World War I, he transferred to the Australian Flying Corps in 1916 and flew with No. 1 Squadron in the Middle East and No. 2 Squadron on the Western Front. He became an ace, credited with victories over ten enemy aircraft, and earned the Military Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1921, he was a founding member of the RAAF.

"King" Cole rose to the position of Air Member for Supply in 1933 and gained promotion to group captain in 1935. The following year he was appointed the first commanding officer of Headquarters RAAF Station Richmond. During World War II, he led North-Western Area Command in Darwin, Northern Territory, and held a series of overseas posts in North Africa, England, Northern Ireland, and Ceylon. As Forward Air Controller during the Dieppe Raid in 1942, he was wounded in action and awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Cole served on corporate boards of directors following his retirement from the RAAF in 1946. He died in 1966 at the age of seventy. (Full article...)

Air Vice Marshal Henry Neilson Wrigley, CBE, DFC, AFC (21 April 1892 – 14 September 1987) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). A pioneering flyer and aviation scholar, he piloted the first trans-Australia flight from Melbourne to Darwin in 1919, and afterwards laid the groundwork for the RAAF's air power doctrine. During World War I, Wrigley joined the Australian Flying Corps and saw combat with No. 3 Squadron on the Western Front, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross; he later commanded the unit and published a history of its wartime exploits. He was awarded the Air Force Cross for his 1919 cross-country flight.

Wrigley was a founding member of the RAAF in 1921 and held staff posts in the ensuing years. In 1936, he was promoted to group captain and took command of RAAF Station Laverton. Raised to air commodore soon after the outbreak of World War II, he became Air Member for Personnel in November 1940. One of his tasks was organising the newly established Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force and selecting its director, Clare Stevenson, in 1941. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire the same year. Wrigley served as Air Officer Commanding RAAF Overseas Headquarters, London, from September 1942 until his retirement from the military in June 1946. He died in 1987 at the age of ninety-five. His writings on air power were collected and published posthumously as The Decisive Factor in 1990. (Full article...)

The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between the forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied (mainly United States Marine Corps) ground forces. It took place 7–9 August 1942 on the Solomon Islands, during the initial Allied landings in the Guadalcanal campaign.

U.S. Marines of the 1st Marine Division, commanded by U.S. Major General Alexander Vandegrift, and the invasion force under Brigadier General William Rupertus, captured the islands of Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo. The Japanese Navy had built a naval and seaplane base on these islands. The landings were fiercely resisted by the Japanese Navy troops who, heavily outnumbered and outgunned by the Allied forces, fought and died almost to the last man. (Full article...)

No. 1 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron headquartered at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland. It is controlled by No. 82 Wing, part of Air Combat Group, and is equipped with Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet multi-role fighters.

The squadron was formed under the Australian Flying Corps in 1916 and saw action in the Sinai and Palestine campaigns during World War I. It flew obsolete Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2s, B.E.12s, Martinsyde G.100s and G.102s, as well as Airco DH.6s, Bristol Scouts and Nieuport 17s, before re-equipping with the R.E.8 in October 1917 and finally the Bristol Fighter in December. Its commanding officer in 1917–18 was Major Richard Williams, later known as the "Father of the RAAF". Disbanded in 1919, No. 1 Squadron was re-formed on paper as part of the RAAF in 1922, and re-established as an operational unit three years later. Initially a composite formation of Airco DH.9s and Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5s, it took on a specialist bomber role in the 1930s, flying mainly Hawker Demons but also Westland Wapitis and Bristol Bulldogs, before re-equipping with Avro Ansons on the eve of World War II. (Full article...)

The First Battle of Dernancourt was fought on 28 March 1918 near Dernancourt in northern France during World War I. It involved a force of the German 2nd Army attacking elements of the VII Corps, which included British and Australian troops, and resulted in a complete defeat of the German assault.

The Australian 3rd and 4th Divisions had been sent south from Belgium to help stem the tide of the German spring offensive towards Amiens and, with the British 35th Division, they held a line west and north of the Ancre river and the area between the Ancre and Somme, forming the southern flank of the Third Army. Much of the VII Corps front line consisted of a series of posts strung out along a railway embankment between Albert and Buire-sur-l'Ancre. The main German assault force was the 50th Reserve Division of the XXIII Reserve Corps, which concentrated its assault on the line between Albert and Dernancourt, attacking off the line of march after a short artillery preparation. Supporting attacks were to be launched by the 13th Division further west. Some German commanders considered success unlikely unless the embankment was weakly held, and the commander of the German 2nd Army ordered the attack to be postponed, but that message did not reach the assaulting troops in time. (Full article...)

The Chief of Army is the most senior appointment in the Australian Army, responsible to both the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) and the Secretary, Department of Defence (SECDEF). The rank associated with the position is lieutenant general (3-star).

Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, the incumbent Chief of Army, has held the post since 2 July 2022. (Full article...)

The CAC Wirraway is a training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) between 1939 and 1946. It was an Australian development of the North American NA-16 training aircraft. The Wirraway has been credited as being the foundation of Australian aircraft manufacturing.

When the name was announced on 6 April 1938, it was said to be "an Aboriginal word meaning challenge". The word presumably comes from Daniel Bunce's compilation Language of the Aborigines of the colony of Victoria, where Wirraway is glossed 'challenge; dare, to defy; incite, to stir up; menace, to threaten'. (Full article...)

The Hobart coastal defences are a network of now defunct coastal batteries, some of which are inter-linked with tunnels, that were designed and built by British colonial authorities in the nineteenth century to protect the city of Hobart, Tasmania, from attack by enemy warships. During the nineteenth century, the port of Hobart Town was a vital re-supply stop for international shipping and trade, and therefore a major freight hub for the British Empire. As such, it was considered vital that the colony be protected. In all, between 1804 and 1942 there were 12 permanent defensive positions constructed in the Hobart region.

Prior to Australian Federation, the island of Tasmania was a colony of the British Empire, and as such was often at war with Britain's enemies and European rivals, such as France and later Russia. The British had already established the colony of Sydney at Port Jackson in New South Wales in 1788, but soon began to consider the island of Tasmania as the potential site of a useful second colony. It was an island, cut off from the mainland of Australia and isolated geographically, making it ideal for a penal colony, and was rich in timber, a resource useful to the Royal Navy. In 1803, the British authorities decided to colonise Tasmania, and to establish a permanent settlement on the island that was at the time known as Van Diemen's Land, primarily to prevent the French from doing so. During this period tensions between Great Britain and France remained high. The two nations had been fighting the French Revolutionary Wars with each other through much of the 1790s, and would soon be engaging each other again in the Napoleonic Wars. (Full article...)

The Balikpapan class is a class of eight heavy landing craft. All eight were built by Walkers Limited for the Australian Army in the early 1970s. A reorganisation of watercraft responsibilities in the Australian military meant the landing craft were operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), with seven commissioned directly into RAN service during 1973 and 1974, and lead ship Balikpapan transferred from the army to the navy. During the leadup to the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975, two of the vessels (HMPNGS Salamaua and HMPNGS Buna) were transferred to the new Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF).

During their careers, the Australian vessels have operated in support of Operation Navy Help Darwin in 1974–1975, Operation Bel Isi from 1997 to 2003, INTERFET operations in 1999 and 2000, and RAMSI operations from 2003. (Full article...)

Until Australia became a Federation in 1901, each of the six colonies was responsible for its own defence. From 1788 until 1870 this was done with British regular forces. In all, 24 British infantry regiments served in the Australian colonies. Each of the Australian colonies gained responsible government between 1855 and 1890, and while the Colonial Office in London retained control of some affairs, and the colonies were still firmly within the British Empire, the Governors of the Australian colonies were required to raise their own colonial militias. To do this, the colonial Governors had the authority from the British crown to raise military and naval forces. Initially these were militias in support of British regulars, but British military support for the colonies ended in 1870, and the colonies assumed their own defence. The separate colonies maintained control over their respective militia forces and navies until 1 March 1901, when the colonial forces were all amalgamated into the Commonwealth Forces following the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia. Colonial forces, including home raised units, saw action in many of the conflicts of the British Empire during the 19th century. Members from British regiments stationed in Australia saw action in India, Afghanistan, the New Zealand Wars, the Sudan conflict, and the Boer War in South Africa.

Despite an undeserved reputation of colonial inferiority, many of the locally raised units were highly organised, disciplined, professional, and well trained. For most of the time from settlement until Federation, military defences in Australia revolved around static defence by combined infantry and artillery, based on garrisoned coastal forts; however, in the 1890s improved railway communications between all of the eastern mainland colonies (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia), led Major General Bevan Edwards, who had recently completed a survey of colonial military forces, to state his belief that the colonies could be defended by the rapid mobilisation of standard brigades. He called for a restructure of colonial defences, and defensive agreements to be made between the colonies. He also called for professional units to replace all of the volunteer forces. (Full article...)

Air Vice Marshal Julie Hammer, AM, CSC, FTSE, FRAeS (born 17 February 1955) is an Australian engineer and a retired senior officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). She was the first woman to be promoted to one-star rank, and also the first woman to be promoted to two-star rank, in the Australian Defence Force. She was also the first woman to command an operational unit in the RAAF. (Full article...)

During the Pacific War the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force conducted air raids on the Australian mainland, domestic airspace, offshore islands, and coastal shipping, attacking at least 111 times between February 1942 and November 1943. These attacks came in various forms; from large-scale raids by medium bombers, to torpedo attacks on ships, and to strafing runs by fighters.

In the first and deadliest set of attacks, 262 aircraft hit Darwin on the morning of 19 February 1942. Killing at least 235 people and causing immense damage, the attacks made hundreds of people homeless and resulted in the abandonment of Darwin as a major naval base. (Full article...)

The Surafend massacre (Arabic: مجزرة صرفند) was a premeditated massacre committed against inhabitants of the village of Sarafand al-Amar (modern-day Tzrifin) and a Bedouin camp in Ottoman Palestine by occupying Australian, New Zealand and Scottish soldiers on 10 December 1918. Occurring at the conclusion of the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I, Allied occupational forces in the region, in particular Australian and New Zealand troops, gradually grew frustrated over being subject to petty theft and occasional murders by local Arabs without redress.

On the night of 9 December, a New Zealand soldier was killed by an Arab thief who had stolen his kitbag. In response, troops of the ANZAC Mounted Division, as well as a small number of Scottish soldiers, surrounded Sarafand al-Amar and demanded the village's leaders hand over the thief. When they denied knowledge of the murder, the soldiers deliberated on their course of action before eventually deciding to attack the village, killing approximately 40–137 male villagers, with the only body count being 137 while others who did not count the bodies stated it was as low as 40. The massacre caused a significant rift between the Division and its Commander-in-Chief, Sir Edmund Allenby. (Full article...)

Lieutenant General Henry John Coates, AC, MBE (28 December 1932 – 11 June 2018) was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served as Chief of the General Staff from 1990 to 1992. After retiring from the army, he became an author and a visiting fellow at the Australian Defence Force Academy branch of the University of New South Wales, pursuing aspects of Australia's military history. (Full article...)

John Kirkpatrick (6 July 1892 – 19 May 1915), commonly known as John Simpson, was a stretcher bearer with the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance during the Gallipoli campaign – the Allied attempt to capture Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, during the First World War.

After the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, Simpson used donkeys to provide first aid and carry wounded soldiers to the beach, from where they could be evacuated. He continued this work for three and a half weeks – often under fire – until he was killed by machine-gun fire during the third attack on Anzac Cove. Simpson and his donkey have become part of the Anzac legend. (Full article...)

Charles Arbuthnot Crombie, DSO, DFC (16 March 1914 – 26 August 1945) was an Australian aviator and flying ace of the Second World War. Born in Brisbane, he was working as a jackeroo when he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in May 1940. Completing flight training in Australia and Canada, he flew in the European, Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre and South-East Asian theatres, amassing a tally of 12 Axis aircraft shot down, with an additional four probables. In a particular attack on 19 January 1943, Crombie intercepted a formation of four Japanese bombers over India. Despite his aircraft being set alight early in the engagement, he shot down two of the bombers and severely damaged a third before he was forced to bail out. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for this action. Returning to Australia late in 1943, he was promoted to squadron leader and posted as a flight instructor with No. 5 Operational Training Unit. Crombie was killed in a flying accident in August 1945. (Full article...)

The 2/9th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army during World War II. Raised in Queensland as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) shortly after the outbreak of the war, it formed part of the 18th Brigade and over the course of the war it was attached to the 6th, 9th and 7th Divisions due to several re-organisations. It served in the United Kingdom in 1940, forming part of a small Australian garrison sent there to help defend against a possible German invasion, before being transferred to North Africa where it took part in the Siege of Tobruk and then undertook garrison duties in Syria following the Syria–Lebanon campaign in 1941.

In early 1942, the 2/9th was brought back to Australia where it was re-organised for jungle warfare and took part in the New Guinea campaign. Throughout 1942–1944, the battalion was committed twice to the fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea. In 1942–1943, the 2/9th fought actions at Milne Bay and Buna–Gona before being withdrawn to Australia for rest prior to returning to New Guinea to take part in the advance through the Finisterre Range where the battalion took part in the Battle of Shaggy Ridge in 1943–1944. The battalion's final involvement in the war came during the Borneo campaign in mid-1945, when it took part in the landing at Balikpapan. It was disbanded shortly after the war in early 1946. (Full article...)

The 2nd Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. It was initially raised for service during the First World War as part the Australian Imperial Force and saw action at Gallipoli before being sent to the Western Front in mid-1916, where it spent the next two-and-a-half years taking part in the fighting in the trenches of France and Belgium. Following the conclusion of hostilities, the battalion was disbanded in early 1919 as part of the demobilisation process.

In 1921, the battalion was re-raised as a part-time unit of the Citizens Forces based in Newcastle, New South Wales, drawing lineage from a number of previously existing infantry units. They remained in existence until 1929 when, due to austerity measures during the Great Depression and manpower shortages, the battalion was amalgamated with two other infantry battalions over the course of a number of re-organisations. It was re-formed in 1939 and undertook garrison duty in Australia during the Second World War until 1943 when it was merged once again. (Full article...)

The 6th Division was an infantry division of the Australian Army. It was raised briefly in 1917 during World War I, but was broken up to provide reinforcements before seeing action. It was not re-raised until the outbreak of World War II, when it was formed as a unit of the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). Throughout 1940–41 it served in the North African Campaign, the Greek campaign, on Crete and in Syria, fighting against the Germans, Italians and Vichy French. In 1942, the division left the Middle East and returned to Australia to meet the threat of Japan's entry into the war. Part of the division garrisoned Ceylon for a short period of time, before the division was committed to the New Guinea campaign. In New Guinea, its component brigades had a major role in the successful counter-offensive along the Kokoda Track, at Buna–Gona and around Salamaua–Lae in 1942–43. Throughout late 1943–44, the division was re-organised in Australia before being committed as a complete formation to one of the last Australian operations of the war around Aitape–Wewak in 1944–45. (Full article...)

Arthur Percy Sullivan VC (27 November 1896 – 9 April 1937) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to a member of the British Armed Forces. Born in South Australia, Sullivan worked for the National Bank of Australasia prior to enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in April 1918 for service in World War I. He had arrived in the United Kingdom, but had not completed training when the Armistice came into effect on 11 November. Sullivan was promoted to corporal in March 1919, but wanting to see active service he sought and received his discharge from the AIF on 28 May. On the same day, he enlisted in the British Army for service with the North Russia Relief Force, part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.

Sullivan was deployed to northern Russia with the relief force. Following a successful attack, he was a member of the rearguard of a column withdrawing across the Sheika River. As his platoon crossed the river on a crude one-plank bridge in the early hours of 11 August 1919, it came under intense fire from Bolshevik troops, and four members fell into the river. Sullivan immediately jumped in and rescued them all, one by one, and was awarded the VC for his actions. Demobilised from the British Army after completing his service, Sullivan returned to Australia and resumed his civilian career as a banker. He was in London for the coronation of King George VI as part of the Australian Coronation Contingent in 1937, when he died of head injuries received in a fall. His medal set is displayed in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. (Full article...)

In Australia, the outbreak of World War I was greeted with considerable enthusiasm. Even before Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, the nation pledged its support alongside other states of the British Empire and almost immediately began preparations to send forces overseas to engage in the conflict. The first campaign that Australians were involved in was in German New Guinea after a hastily raised force known as the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force was dispatched in September 1914 from Australia and seized and held German possessions in the Pacific. At the same time another expeditionary force, initially consisting of 20,000 men and known as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), was raised for service overseas.

The AIF departed Australia in November 1914 and, after several delays due to the presence of German naval vessels in the Indian Ocean, arrived in Egypt, where they were initially used to defend the Suez Canal. In early 1915, it was decided to carry out an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula with the goal of opening up a second front and securing the passage of the Dardanelles. The Australians and New Zealanders, grouped together as the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), went ashore on 25 April 1915 and for the next eight months the Anzacs, alongside their British, French and other allies, fought a costly and ultimately unsuccessful campaign against the Turks. (Full article...)

Air Commodore Peter Frank Raw, DSO, DFC, AFC (5 June 1922 – 14 July 1988) was a senior officer and pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He saw combat in a heavy bomber unit in the European theatre during the later stages of World War II and as a senior officer in the Vietnam War, and served in many flying, training and administrative roles.

Raw joined the RAAF in 1941, and served as a flight instructor, bomber pilot and the commander of a communications unit during World War II. After the war he became a specialist navigator. He was appointed commanding officer of the bomber-equipped No. 2 Squadron in January 1953, but temporarily left this position for part of the year to participate in the 1953 London to Christchurch air race, in which he placed second. He returned to lead No. 2 Squadron at the end of 1953 and held the position until 1955. (Full article...)

Virgil Paul Brennan, DFC, DFM (6 March 1920 – 13 June 1943), also known as Paul Brennan, was an Australian aviator and flying ace of the Second World War. Enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force in November 1940, he briefly served in the European Theatre before transferring to Malta. Over the next five months, Brennan was officially credited with the destruction of 10 Axis aircraft from a total of twenty-four operational sorties. Reposted to England, he was assigned as a flying instructor and collaborated in the writing of Spitfires over Malta, a book about his experiences on the island. Returning to Australia in 1943, Brennan was killed in a flying accident at Garbutt, Queensland, in June that year. (Full article...)

The military history of Australia spans the nation's 230-year modern history, from the early Australian frontier wars between Aboriginal people and Europeans to the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 21st century. Although this history is short when compared to that of many other nations, Australia has been involved in numerous conflicts and wars, and war and military service have been significant influences on Australian society and national identity, including the Anzac spirit. The relationship between war and Australian society has also been shaped by the enduring themes of Australian strategic culture and the unique security challenges it faces.

The six British colonies in Australia participated in some of Britain's wars of the 19th century. In the early 20th century, as a federated dominion and later as an independent nation, Australia fought in the First World War and Second World War, as well as in the wars in Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam during the Cold War. In the Post-Vietnam era Australian forces have been involved in numerous international peacekeeping missions, through the United Nations and other agencies, including in the Sinai, Persian Gulf, Rwanda, Somalia, East Timor and the Solomon Islands, as well as many overseas humanitarian relief operations, while more recently they have also fought as part of multi-lateral forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. In total, nearly 103,000 Australians died during these conflicts. (Full article...)

The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division and one light horse brigade. The infantry division subsequently fought at Gallipoli between April and December 1915, with a newly raised second division, as well as three light horse brigades, reinforcing the committed units.

After being evacuated to Egypt, the AIF was expanded to five infantry divisions, which were committed to the fighting in France and Belgium along the Western Front in March 1916. A sixth infantry division was partially raised in 1917 in the United Kingdom, but was broken up and used as reinforcements following heavy casualties on the Western Front. Meanwhile, two mounted divisions remained in the Middle East to fight against Turkish forces in the Sinai and Palestine. The AIF included the Australian Flying Corps (AFC), the predecessor to the Royal Australian Air Force, which consisted of four combat and four training squadrons that were deployed to the United Kingdom, the Western Front and the Middle East throughout the war. (Full article...)