Searching for Ancestors
The 'Lest We Forget' Project revolves around researching and locating the graves of individual soldiers.
This research has been made much easier through the use of a number of websites which provide information specific to the needs of the students and their aims.
If you are interested in finding out details of ancestors who fought, the following three sites provide a great deal of the basic information required.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
As well, its comprehensive 'Debt of Honour' Register provides information on the burial details of all soldiers who have died. This register can be accessed through the CWGC's website and it has been the key resource used by the students in their search for cemeteries / memorials / graves of the men they have researched.
Link to the CWGC site:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial has an excellent website, with all sorts of interesting war related information. Specifically, its Biographical Database page provides links to numerous databases that contain information relevant to researching personal war histories.
The link below will take you directly to this page - it's worth taking the time to explore:
http://www.awm.gov.au/database/biographical.asp
National Archives of Australia
The National Archives hold the Personal Service records of all soldiers who fought in WW1. These records are the basis of any individual research and they can provide very worthwhile information.
The National Archives is currently digitising these records so that they are accessible directly from the website. To see if the soldier of your interest has his records digitised, go to the following page:
http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ResearcherScreen.asp
Type in the soldier's name in 'keywords' and then enter B2455 in 'reference number'