Remembrance.

Friday 11 November is Poppy Day.

Over the next week or so I shall post short stories about some of the men from the State Forests Department* and the Victorian School of Forestry that served.

I can find some of their military records in the National Archives and the Australian War Memorial, but there are many things missing, as well as lots of anomalies in the official documents.

The names of the two honour boards don’t even line up.

For example, there is Ritchie W L is on the Forestry School honour board with Ritchie W S on the State Forests Department board, while his army records simply lists him as Ritchie W (with no second initial).

Then there is Galbraith D K and Weickhardt F C on the Forestry School board that dont appear to have worked for the department after the war.

Sometimes they don’t list their occupations as foresters on their enlistment papers. I think this was because forestry was a protected occupation.

But sadly, I can’t find much at all about some of them, or their stories, so I welcome any contributions to fill in the gaps.

* The Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) didn’t come into existence until after the war.