Our Wartime Heroes: firsthand stories from men and women who were there

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

In the third Battle to take Ypres, the Australians fought side by side. Dick of the 11th Battalion was hopeful that the war would soon end if all went well for the Allies in Belgium. He was again wounded.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Voice of Dick, Rhys Hughes. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

The Battle for Pozieres during WWI was not the hoped for respite by the Australians after the fighting on Gallipoli. It turned out to be bloodiest of battles.

For Dick, the respite came later when he was billeted on a farm. It was a moment of peace and he longed for the war to be over quickly.

Narrator Sharon Kennedy. Voice of Dick, Rhys Hughes. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Dick was a very bright boy who could have chosen any number of futures for himself. Instead, he followed the call of King and country and enlisted in the 11th Battalion Australian Infantry Forces as soon as Australia declared war in 1914.

Perhaps because of his farming background, Dick was a crack shot, a skill in demand on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Narrator Sharon Kennedy. Voice of Dick, Rhys Hughes. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

George was wounded in his leg and went from hospital to hospital. He had a miraculous escape while sailing to Crete. Eventually, he was taken prisoner of war.

April Fools Day, 1945 but there was no joke.

Narration Jennifer Kain. Original interview Bunbury Oral History Group.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

While fighting during WWII, in Piraeus, a Greek port, George and his Battalion were subjected to constant bombing and strafing.

He discovered that an airfield was not a good place to parked by when the Germans paid a visit. The bullets were flying and some came very, very close.

Later wounded, he came to admire the wonderful, calm care of the nurses as he recovered in hospital.

Narration Jennifer Kain. Original recording The Bunbury Oral History Group.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Trevor was persuaded by his wife Maureen to revisit Vietnam. He learned an invaluable lesson.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

One minute in Vietnam, the next back home. Trevor had difficulty adjusting to civilian life. Joining the Returned Soldiers League helped. Then came the Welcome Home March when Australia finally thanked its Vietnam veterans.

Tears, beers and reunions, Trevor said.

Frankie who kicked the mine is the inspiration for the Redgum's song, A Walk in the Light Green, also known as I Was Only 19.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Original interview, Bunbury Oral History Group

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

In May 1968, the experience of the Vietnamese war was taking its toll on Trevor. At home on R&R, all seemed surreal. He didn't want to go back.

Upon return to his Mobile Training Unit, he was informed that he was moving on, leaving the South Vietnamese with whom he had become close.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Minefields were the bane of the Australians. They had to be patrolled so that the Vietcong couldn't dig them up. It was an almost impossible task, Trevor said.

His scariest moment though, might have been when he had to jump the barbed wire. His mates thought it was funny...

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Original interview, Bunbury Oral History Group.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Trevor won the lottery that no young person wanted. In the late 1960s, the Australian government ran a birth date ballot lottery for young men turning 20. If your birth date came up you were conscripted.

End prize - fighting in Vietnam.

Trevor was sent for training and discovered his couldn't tell his left from his right. No good for marching! He turned 21 while on training.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Original interview, Bunbury Oral History Group.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Olive faced the same heartbreaking and back breaking work of all the Australian nurses during WWII.

Narration Andrew Robinson. Voice of Olive, Michelle Durrant. Written Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

While in Egypt, Olive caught sight of a very famous person. Her assessment was a trifle unflattering.

She was a calm and assured nurse to whom patients responded. One in particular.

Narration Andrew Robinson. Voice of Olive, Michelle Durrant. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Tom was unlucky enough to be wounded and convalescence dragged on. He was eager to get back to his battalion.

Narrator Ron Tait. Voice of Tom, Rhys Hughes. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Four of the eight Shaw brothers volunteered for WWI. Their fates were varied.

After the war, Tom continued a life of service, helped other returned soldiers and sailors.

Narration Jennifer Kain. Voice of Tom, Lachlan Kelly. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Tom rubbed shoulders with some of the most influential people of both the First and Second World Wars.

He and his five brothers all volunteered which must have been heart breaking for their parents. He survived some close encounters, including scrapes with the officers.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Voice of Tom, Lachlan Kelly. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Kevin was young man who had the job of converting cars to run on gas during WWII. Occasionally, It interfered with his love life. Kevin tells the story of the night the gas went phoof.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Bunbury was a quiet country town during WWII. Imagine the panic one night when Spitfires flew over. No one knew what was happening or what to do.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Original recording May 1999, Norm Flynn

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Neville was thrilled to be able to visit the Sydney while she was in Bunbury port. He and the other young boys were fascinated by the aircraft on board. How did they get off, they wondered.

Bunbury was to be one of Sydney's last ports of call.

Narration Michelle Durrant. Original recording, Bunbury Oral History Group.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Jessie was running her own private hospital in country WA when war broke out. The Australian Army very quickly made use of her skills and assigned her to a troop transport ship.

The nurses coped with not just with injuries but also with other debilitating diseases afflicting the soldiers. The conditions were difficult to say the least.

Narration Rhys Hughes. Voice of Jessie Adele Peirce. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Towards the end of WWII, Norm and other prisoners in Germany were forced to march ahead of the liberators, Their young guards were afraid of the advancing Americans.

Once back home, Norm became an essential part of the Bunbury community.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Voice of Norm, Andrew Robinson. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Norm and his brother went to extreme measures in order to sign up during WWII. If he'd known what lay ahead, he might not have been so keen.

During the voyage to Palestine to join the 11th Battalion, the men weren't impressed with the food and conditions on board. When they complained, they were soon told what was what in the army! Norm laughed about it later in life.

However, it was an early lesson of what was to come on...

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Jack was an excellent leader of men. He needed all his courage and skill as he was part of one of the bloodiest battles in which Australians fought in France.

His letters home describe the hell and noise of the battle.

Back in Bunbury, he again accepted leadership in his profession and made far reaching changes.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Jack Blair was a teacher. When WWI broke out, he was torn between his students and his duty. He wrote careful letters to his students to prepare them for what might lie ahead.

Narration Adele Peirce. Voice of Jack, Rhys Hughes. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

A former Mayor of Bunbury, Western Australia, Dick flew daring and dangerous missions at low level altitude in Burma (now Myanmar) against the Japanese in WWII.

The Bunbury populace of the time recognised that Dick suffered from the effects of his hazardous war service.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Voice of Dick McKenzie, Ron Tait, citation read by Kris Csillag. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Elma faced unsanitary conditions in Lemnos where she helped set up the hospital to better treat the many cases coming from Gallipoli.

Later she nursed in Egypt and France. She was a dedicated and highly skilled nurse who, along with other nurses, coped with the large numbers of men in her care.

Narration Ron Tait. Voice off Elma, Adele Peirce. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

John thought that beginning his new assignment with the corvette HMAS Bunbury would be an easy walk up the gangplank.

Instead he traversed from one side of Australia to the other, with a few detours in between.

The story has a very happy and unexpected ending.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Peter Hopkins recorded his father's story with the Bunbury Oral History Group.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

In 1941, HMAS Napier was tasked with picking up a passenger in Scotland. It all had to be hush, hush. John's first impression of this important personage wasn't entirely complimentary.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Peter Hopkins recorded his father's story with the Bunbury Oral History Group.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Leading Seaman John Hopkin's first ship during WWII was the flagship of the Australian fleet. The Australia was patrolling near the Arctic Circle when a call came to rescue the crew of the Short Sunderland flying boat.

Conditions were difficult for both rescuers and the stricken airmen. John could swim so he was roped over the side. He had to be careful not to fall into the freezing water.

That wasn't the end of the excitement for John on board HMAS...

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

During WWI, Edward was wounded then taken prisoner. It fell to his mother to discover what then happened to him.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

After nursing in Gaza, Rose sailed homeward south. It was a perilous journey.

Her account of nursing in New Guinea and Bougainville is typical of the skill with which the women saved many lives. Their story is not often told.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Lord Hawhaw was an English traitor during WWII. His radio broadcasts on behalf of the Germans were designed to demoralise.

Rose was subjected to his frightening lies even before she even reached the battle grounds.

She nursed in Gaza and on overcrowded troop ships, at times in fear of her life.

Narration Jennifer Kain. Original interview with Rose by Audrey Jacques in December 1986.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

One of the first from Western Australia to enlist in WWI, Stan was also one of the first to land on Gallipoli soil on the 25th of April, 1915.

Early on, Stan took a bullet in the back, just next to his spine. He was given up for dead. But...

Narration, Adele Peirce. Voice of Stan, Rhys Hughes. Written by Jeffrey Peirce.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Plague, head wounds, shell shock, surgical nursing. The skilled women who cared for the wounded men in WWI faced them all.

Very Paisley was no different. She was posted to India at first where the occasional snake was was a change from the oppressive heat.

After the war, again she was among those Australian Army Nurses who put their fine skills to use in the community.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Percy was welcomed with open arms at the 75th Gallipoli Anzac landing commemoration despite not being part of the official contingent.

Before listening to his account of the moving service, you'll hear an excerpt of the last episode as he received help to get through the crowds heading to the service.

Percy was 95 at the time.

This is the final part of Percy's war. We leave him standing again on the Suvla beach.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Original...

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

1990, Percy naturally hoped he would join other veterans at Gallipoli for the 75th anniversary dawn service. However, the Australian government ruled him ineligible.

It took the determination of many people acting on his behalf to make sure that he would be there on April 25th.

Percy was 95 at the time.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Percy was a wily character who knew how to look after himself. He knew when to obey an officer and when not to.

He was 100 at the time of recording but he remembered only too well the conditions on Gallipoli.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

During WWI, the soldiers fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula endured heat, flies dysentery. They didn't expect a snow storm however.

Percy and some mates were waiting on the beach for a ship to arrive with supplies. As it started to rain, the men realised that the ship wasn't going to be able to unload because the seas were too rough.

A friendly orderly offered some shelter for the wait.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Flies, lice and dirty clothes, Percy wasn't terribly keen on life fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula during WWI.

He wasn't that keen on repairing the wire between the trenches either. At least the Allies and the Turks had an agreement about that. The flies weren't so cooperative.

With his usual dry sense of humour, Percy paints the picture of survival at a basic level.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

A "nice" job mining Hill 60, a strategic area on Gallipoli. Percy discovered that nerves of steel were required.

Narration Sharon Kennedy. Original recording Bunbury Oral History Group 1995, Lyn Adams.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Food was an issue at Gallipoli for the British soldiers. But he wasn’t all that happy when he won the treacle lottery. He didn't know what to do with it, He'd been hoping for biscuits or chocolate or fresh fruit!

The treacle came to a very sticky end.