Uncovering Your Aussie Ancestors

Do your relatives come from the land down under? Well, tell them g’day, mate. A Web site launched by the Australian War Memorial offers a searchable database of Australians enlisted in World War II. Look for your Aussie veteran among the 1 million service records on the World War II Nominal Roll <www.ww2roll.gov.au>. You can search by name, honors, service number and place of birth, enlistment or residence. Results give the individual’s name, service number, date of birth, place of birth and branch of service. When you click on a veteran’s name, you’ll receive additional details, possibly including information about service: dates of enlistment and discharge, rank upon discharge, next of kin, posting at discharge and any honors received. Printable certificates of service are available for veterans listed on the site. Since the site launched on Nov. 6, 2002, the World War II Nominal Roll Team has been overwhelmed with queries. You can e-mail questions to nominal.rolls@dva.gov.au. Allow 30 days to receive a response, as manual research is necessary to answer some inquiries.