Following on from the resource for *WW1 ANZACs, a similar service is available for WW2 Aussie servicemen & women – albeit not as refined as the WW1 version. Not wanting to draw anything away from the WW1 thread but here is a link to the WW2 Nominal Roll as hosted by the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). World War Two Nominal Roll Once there click on the PLACE button and prepare yourself for the vast variety of combinations of the town you are looking for, either from Australia or overseas. It lists the following results - Place of Birth / Residential Locality on Enlistment / Place of Enlistment. Usually for overseas locations there are only results for Place of Birth but sometimes there are personnel with an overseas Residential Locality on Enlistment or Place of Enlistment. Typing in LONDON for overseas returns 182 separate combinations, besides towns in and around the capital of England it shows places such as Londonderry or East London in South Africa. Of course you can just type in a country to see how many Aussie personnel were born in Canada or France (or even Germany, Italy or Japan). I have attached the search results for EBBW (following on from a recent request on this forum for help with a memorial in EBBW VALE). As can be seen there are 9 results for overseas, each for the same place in Wales but with different combinations of spelling. For the town of EBBW VALE in Queensland, Australia there are 6 spelling variations. A quick check shows that the line for EBBW VALE, NSW should be EBBW VALE, South Wales (UK). The quick check encompassed using the member’s service number to conduct a manual search of files held by the National Archives of Australia (no linking as on the WW1 version hosted by the NAA). This member’s file has been digitised which shows his actual place of birth as being in the UK (it took a few pages before I clarified it in my own mind – the first page was confusing). I might contact the administrators of the site to see if it is worth correcting that line – changing him from an Aussie born soldier to a UK born one. Within Australia typing in the name of a town such as RICHMOND returns 73 combinations – there is a town with that name in just about every state. However, many of the records are lumped under the single word RICHMOND without any clue as to which state. I don’t know if it is worth correcting errors as long as they are listed in the right country – a bit of diligence should locate all personnel from a certain town or area using some lateral thinking. The NAA has digitised all WW1 service files but for WW2 service the number is lower, maybe around 50% and ongoing. If a certain file is wanted but not yet loaded you can ask for it to be placed at the top of the list and pay a fee of around AU$17 – it takes a couple of weeks to appear and they send you an email once they are done. Besides member’s pers files there can be a variety of other individual files depending on if they were injured or died in service (especially RAAF members who mostly have a casualty file detailing the incident), or there might be a court-martial file if they were a bad boy somewhere along the line. Sometimes files are hard to find when searching the NAA – normally due to a change in service number, especially for those who stayed in uniform for some years after 1945 or those who subsequently re-enlisted. *WW1 Link here: Was anyone born in your Town or Village in the Australian Forces?
Oh, and I am going to directly quote Spidge from the WW1 thread he started regarding accuracy of spelling etc - (post 48) - "I think you have to take some of the spelling with a grain of salt. Probably an Australian taking the detail from people who, like many Australians, did not have high education levels and the accents would have been horrific. Many would not have been able to spell the name of their town/village and the person taking the attestation would not have ever heard of the place name either."
Thought I would add an example for DEACS for CUMBERLAND THIS WILL SHOW THE VARIABLES AND THAT THERE ARE 134 FROM CUMBERLAND FOR WHICH YOU CAN DRILL DOWN FURTHER. World War Two Nominal Roll Place Place of Birth Residential Locality on Enlistment Place of Enlistment ALSTON CUMBERLAND, ENGLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records CARLISLE CUMBERLAND, ENGLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records CARLISLE, CUMBERLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records CARLISLE, CUMBERLAND, ENGLAND 2 records 0 records 0 records COCKERMOUTH, CUMBERLAND, ENGLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND, ENG 1 records 0 records 0 records CUMBERLAND, ENG 9 records 0 records 0 records CUMBERLAND, ENGLAND 106 records 0 records 0 records CUMBERLAND, UK 1 records 0 records 0 records CUMBERLAND, WHITE HAVEN 1 records 0 records 0 records HURSTVILLE, CUMBERLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records MARYPORT, CUMBERLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records SYDENHAM, CUMBERLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records SYDNEY, CUMBERLAND 4 records 0 records 0 records WHITEHAVEN, CUMBERLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records WHITEHAVEN, CUMBERLAND, ENGLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records WIGTON, CUMBERLAND 1 records 0 records 0 records Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2002. Cheers Geoff
Following on - Spidge's post shows the places in Cumberland, including COCKERMOUTH, CUMBERLAND, ENGLAND However, just searching for COCKERMOUTH provides another 18 personnel where the county name isn't included in the place name (ie COCKERMOUTH, ENGLAND)
And following on from the comments above, there are people who served in WW2 who are not listed in the DVA's nominal roll. So do not fret if at first you can't find someone. I am working with the DVA Nominal Roll staff (just 2 staff for enquiries for all wars) to add missing names and correct the mis-spelt names for nurses in WW2 - some are minor; others are fatal, eg. should be Zoeller but is listed as Loeller! Also, many women are listed by their married names, not their maiden names/the ones they enlisted with. Unfortunately, the DVA staff have said that they are not resourced to correct place names. Happy to take any queries on Australian women in WW2. cheers Kirsty
Not ANZACs but British born and died at Gallipoli; L/C Bertram (Bertie) Whittle and Private Ernest Budden, both killed 21 Aug 1915 at Gallipoli. Bertie Whittle was my great-uncle and was in the Dorsetshire Regiment. As they were killed on the same day, I assume that Ernest Budden was also a Dorset. They are both remembered on the War Memorial in their home village of West Lulworth
