Derrick VC in His Own Words

Derrick VC in His Own Words PDF Author: Mark Johnston
Publisher: NewSouth
ISBN: 9781742237244
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Tom 'Diver' Derrick VC DCM was Australia's most famous fighting soldier of World War II. Derrick fought in five campaigns, won the highest medals for bravery, and died of wounds sustained while leading his men in the war's last stages. His career reached its climax on the jungle-clad heights of Sattelberg in New Guinea, where he won the Victoria Cross by spearheading the capture of seemingly impregnable Japanese defences. The diaries Derrick kept throughout his campaigns, from Tobruk to Tarakan, are among the most important writings by any Australian soldier. Those diaries and all his other known wartime correspondence and interviews are published here for the first time in their entirety. 'Diver' had only a rudimentary education, but his intelligence, humour, ambition and fighting outlook shine through his words. Edited and annotated by Mark Johnston, one of Australia's leading authorities on World War II, this book provides unprecedented insights into the mind and the remarkable career of one of Australia's most decorated and renowned servicemen. 'Australia's leading World War II historian reveals Australia's most intriguing Victoria Cross winner - an enticing and informative pairing!' -- Professor Peter Stanley 'Brilliantly researched - a wonderful, enlightening insight into the life of Australia's most remarkable frontline soldier of World War II.' -- Professor David Horner 'Few historians would be better suited to writing about the soldiers' battles, weapons and equipment during the Second World War than Mark Johnston. Over the past decade he has become the leading historian on the experience of Australian soldiers during the war.' -- Karl James, Wartime Magazine

Derrick VC in His Own Words

Derrick VC in His Own Words PDF Author: Mark Johnston
Publisher: NewSouth
ISBN: 9781742237244
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Tom 'Diver' Derrick VC DCM was Australia's most famous fighting soldier of World War II. Derrick fought in five campaigns, won the highest medals for bravery, and died of wounds sustained while leading his men in the war's last stages. His career reached its climax on the jungle-clad heights of Sattelberg in New Guinea, where he won the Victoria Cross by spearheading the capture of seemingly impregnable Japanese defences. The diaries Derrick kept throughout his campaigns, from Tobruk to Tarakan, are among the most important writings by any Australian soldier. Those diaries and all his other known wartime correspondence and interviews are published here for the first time in their entirety. 'Diver' had only a rudimentary education, but his intelligence, humour, ambition and fighting outlook shine through his words. Edited and annotated by Mark Johnston, one of Australia's leading authorities on World War II, this book provides unprecedented insights into the mind and the remarkable career of one of Australia's most decorated and renowned servicemen. 'Australia's leading World War II historian reveals Australia's most intriguing Victoria Cross winner - an enticing and informative pairing!' -- Professor Peter Stanley 'Brilliantly researched - a wonderful, enlightening insight into the life of Australia's most remarkable frontline soldier of World War II.' -- Professor David Horner 'Few historians would be better suited to writing about the soldiers' battles, weapons and equipment during the Second World War than Mark Johnston. Over the past decade he has become the leading historian on the experience of Australian soldiers during the war.' -- Karl James, Wartime Magazine

At the Front Line

At the Front Line PDF Author: Mark Johnston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521523233
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
At the Front Line draws on a plethora of letters, diaries and documents written by over 300 Australian soldiers in the field to present a picture of the hardships and triumphs of their wartime experience. Mark Johnston analyses the suffering of front-line soldiers caused not only by the opposing force, but also by the conditions imposed by their own army. The book details the physical and psychological pressures of life at the front and shows how soldiers survived or surrendered to unbearable environments, fear, boredom and the constant threat of impending death. The myths of mateship and equanimity are brought under scrutiny. Much hostility can be explained by competition between ranks and the perceived hostility of superiors. The author investigates the immense strain that led to many breakdowns and the characteristic forebearance that saw so many others through.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 19

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 19 PDF Author: Melanie Nolan
Publisher: ANU Press
ISBN: 1760464139
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 970

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Book Description
Volume 19 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) contains concise biographies of individuals who died between 1991 and 1995. The first of two volumes for the 1990s, it presents a colourful montage of late twentieth-century Australian life, containing the biographies of significant and representative Australians. The volume is still in the shadow of World War II with servicemen and women who enlisted young appearing, but these influences are dimming and there are now increasing numbers of non-white, non-male, non-privileged and non-straight subjects. The 680 individuals recorded in volume 19 of the ADB include Wiradjuri midwife and Ngunnawal Elder Violet Bulger; Aboriginal rights activist, poet, playwright and artist Kevin Gilbert; and Torres Strait Islander community leader and land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo. HIV/AIDS child activists Tony Lovegrove and Eve Van Grafhorst have entries, as does conductor Stuart Challender, ‘the first Australian celebrity to go public’ about his HIV/AIDS condition in 1991. The arts are, as always, well-represented, including writers Frank Hardy, Mary Durack and Nene Gare, actors Frank Thring and Leonard Teale and arts patron Ian Potter. We are beginning to see the effects of the steep rise in postwar immigration flow through to the ADB. Artist Joseph Stanislaw Ostoja-Kotkowski was born in Poland. Pilar Moreno de Otaegui, co-founded the Spanish Club of Sydney. Chinese restaurateur and community leader Ming Poon (Dick) Low migrated to Victoria in 1953. Often we have a dearth of information about the domestic lives of our subjects; politician Olive Zakharov, however, bravely disclosed at the Victorian launch of the federal government’s campaign to Stop Violence Against Women in 1993 that she was a survivor of domestic violence in her second marriage. Take a dip into the many fascinating lives of the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Derrick

Derrick PDF Author: Murray Farquhar
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780727017086
Category : Military decorations
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description


We Who Proudly Served

We Who Proudly Served PDF Author: Peter Francis Kenny
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1503505847
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1230

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Book Description
Although Australia is only a young country in comparison to other nations, it can hold its head up high and proudly proclaim that it is one of the giants in this world of toil and trouble in which we live. When the odds are stacked against Australians, they dont turn and run; instead, they stand and fight and overcome the obstacles that face them. The contents of this volume are a tribute to all the men and women of this proud and great country, who have come from all walks of life to give of their time, and unfortunately, some have even given their lives, to defend this great land and keep it free. There have been politicians, doctors, nurses, police officers, average everyday citizens, musicians, actors, artists, farmers, graziers, authors, sportsmen and women, journalists, and a host of others who have taken up the cause for their country and the monarchy, serving from the Crimean to the war in Vietnam and beyond. Their heroic deeds and their many sacrifices have ensured that todays generation can rest easier, proud in the knowledge that these servicemen and women have paved the way for our freedom. Now they come together once again as one big family to shed an insight on their achievements so that you can fully understand and appreciate what they have and had experienced. I dedicate this work to the memory of all those who have made the supreme sacrifice in order that we may live in peace and prosperity and also to the families of those who did not return. The book is not a glorification of war but a glorification of the individual and his or her actions and deeds.

War Correspondent

War Correspondent PDF Author: Frank Legg
Publisher: Adelaide, Rigby [1964]
ISBN:
Category : War correspondents
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description


Fighting the Enemy

Fighting the Enemy PDF Author: Mark Johnston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521782227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Fighting The Enemy, first published in 2000, is about men with the job of killing each other. Based on the wartime writings of hundreds of Australian front-line soldiers during World War II, this powerful and resonant book contains many moving descriptions of high emotion and drama. Soldiers' interactions with their enemies are central to war and their attitudes to their adversaries are crucial to the way wars are fought. Yet few books look in detail at how enemies interpret each other. This book is an unprecedented and thorough examination of the way Australian combat soldiers interacted with troops from the four powers engaged in World War II: Germany, Italy, Vichy France and Japan. Each opponent has themes peculiar to it: the Italians were much ridiculed; the Germans were the most respected of enemies; the Vichy French were regarded with ambivalence; while the Japanese were the subject of much hostility, intensified by the real threat of occupation.

Fighters from the Fringe

Fighters from the Fringe PDF Author: Robert Anthony Hall
Publisher: Aboriginal Studies Press
ISBN: 0855752866
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served their country during World War II and this book focuses on the experiences of six of those soldiers.

The Athenaeum

The Athenaeum PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 868

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Book Description


Cheaters

Cheaters PDF Author: JR Carroll
Publisher: Momentum
ISBN: 1760080284
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 463

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Book Description
Big risks, big reward. But no-one ever said that cheating was easy... Danny Gold has the Midas touch on the roulette tables. Soon he's making big bucks washing cash for businessman-turned-porn-movie-maker Sigmund Barry, with all the fringe benefits. Robert Curlewis lived the good life -- until booze and smack took hold. When a fellow desperado, Florence, witnesses the vicious slaying of a young gambler in Melbourne's Chinatown, Robert is no longer wasting his life, he's trying to hold onto it. Throw in a wild card, a rogue Kiwi commando running his own agenda, and you have a full deck of players with one thing in common. They are all CHEATERS.