Similar to that of the Mapping Our Anzacs website (read previous post here), the World War II Nominal Roll website allows individuals to search for men and women who served in the Australian Military during WWII.
Links on the home page allow you to search by either name, service number, honour or place. When searching by name, try to be as specific as possible. A common name may bring up hundreds or even thousands of results so if details such as first name or second name are known, enter them into the fields to ensure you receive a more condensed result.
Once an individual is found, a click on their name brings up their service record.
The Service Record of my Great Grandfather.
The Service Record lists information such as date of birth, place of birth, next of kin as well as the details pertaining to the individual’s service in the Australian Military. At times not a lot of clues can be obtained however, you never know your luck. The date of birth and place of birth may help you to find the associated record on BDM and then subsequently obtain other leads. Next of kin details may give you the name of a mother, father or spouse. The locality on enlistment may also give you a clue as to where they were living at the time they enrolled and help substantiate other documents such as electoral rolls.
If however this summarised service record is not enough, you are able to request a full service record from the National Archives of Australia. Search for the individual and once found, click on their name to bring up the item details. Full records can then be purchased by clicking ‘Request Copy’ on the top right of the details screen.
All in all, whether you’re hoping to find new clues on a relative or are simply interested in their military background, I highly recommend a quick search on this site.
Happy searching!
Finding Family 