Leaving NZ in July 1917, he saw service on the Western Front and hospitalisation with severe bronchitis. William, aged 22, was killed in the field on September 12, 1918 and buried in France (Metz-En-Couture Communal Cemetery, British Extension). His effects and medals were returned to his mother in Cygnet.

Born on Cape Barren Island, Tasmania, Alma was a strong Aboriginal woman, and her four sons Arthur, Norman, Mervyn and George were strong, courageous and proud men.

Private Norman Vincent West of the Australian Infantry Battalion, died in the 'The Blitz' in 1940, aged 21 and is buried at the Tidworth Military Cemetery, Wiltshire. Corporal Mervyn Leslie West, enlisted in 1939 at age 19, and returned to Tasmania after being injured. He re-enlisted and was captured by the Japanese and held in a Thai Prisoner of War camp. He died age 25 in 1947.

George Robert West who served between 1939 and 1948, was also a Prisoner of War, but returned to Launceston.

The inscription on Norman's grave in the Tidworth Military Cemetery, reads, 'Duty Nobly Done'. Alma also did her duty to this country nobly.

Bernard Raphael Dooley, 'The Wild Irishman' from Forth was initiated into battle with the 12th Battalion on the shores of Gallipoli.

They evacuated in 1916 and he transferred to the 52nd that was fighting France. He was injured at Mouquet Farm and sent to an English hospital. On June 7, 1917, back with his battalion, Bernard was acting Sergeant Major at the battle of Wyetschate Ridge in Messines. At 1.30am they had gained ground and were advancing.

At 3.10am there was a simultaneous detonation of 19 mines under the German lines at the famous Hill 60.

The Wild Irishman was killed the day after this event by a sniper's bullet to the neck and is one of the 6000 missing Australians in Belgium, his name on a wall at the Menin Gate in Ypres.

Jack (Nugget) O'Connor enlisted on January 29, 1943 leaving Tasmania with the engineers headed for Townsville to build a road from Cooktown to Cape York. In Townsville their commanding officer got called away, ordering them not to leave Australia. When he got back, they were on a ship to New Guinea.

Maintaining and sourcing material to keep them working was a creative exercise, most of it acquired the Australian way from American bases.

In 1945, Jack's appendix ruptured and septicaemia took hold. Doctors said he would die overnight and a new drug, penicillin was debated.

Using it saved his life and Jack always gave thanks for the time beyond the night he was meant to die.

On June 20, 1943, Lewis William 'Bill' Pilsbury stepped off a train and onto Australian soil under military control. Attached to the 12/50th Australian Infantry Battalion, Bill was part of the garrison defending Australia against Japan in the Northern Territory.

The 36-year-old spent over two years there, enduring approximately 77 terrifying air raids.

After the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, he and the 12/40th Battalion as part of Operation TIMFORCE, were sent to Timor's capital Koepang to enforce the unconditional surrender.

They took control of approximately 36,000 Japanese, dumped massive amounts of arms into the sea, recovered and evacuated allied prisoners, supervised infrastructure reconstruction and restored civil administration.

Lindsay was born in 1924 and was 18 when he joined the Australian Military Forces on September 16, 1942 in Brighton. Lindsay served in Lae, New Guinea, Morotai and Borneo, Sarawak, Scarlet Beach and Labuan. Battalions: 28th AIF Battalion, 2/15th and 9th AIF.

He was awarded the 1939/45 Star, Africa Star, Pacific Star, War Medal and the Australian Service Medal. He was officially discharged on September 10, 1946.

He spent most of his life on the North West Coast with his wife Doreen, who he married when they were 22, and nine children. Lindsay was an amazing father, loved dearly by his children and grandchildren. He died in 1995 aged 71.

Eric Johnston was born in 1918 and when World War II was declared he enlisted and was sent to 8th Div, Signals 6 line section.

Singapore fell with thousands of allies taken prisoner by the Japanese. After being imprisoned in Changi, groups were sent north to build a railway, a project declared impossible by the British. Eric was part of the ill-fated F Force group.

They travelled to Thailand, then walked 100s of kilometres through mud and monsoonal rain to areas where they were required to prepare for the railway.

F Force was a transient group with no permanent camp, but travelled up and down as work was completed.

The work was difficult, transporting rocks to build the railway cuttings with only their hands and basic tools.

Cholera, malaria, ulcers, dysentery, tropical diseases and malnourishment took many lives, and Eric believed that if it wasn't for the likes of Dr Mills and Dr Weary Dunlop, the death toll would've been greater. "They were the heroes," he claimed.

What kept him going? "We won't let the bastards win!"

Eric returned in 1945 and spent many months recovering. He had a wonderful life with Vera and and his five children and passed away recently at the age of 100.

When WWI began Jean Nellie Miles-Walker from Forth had been a nurse for 11 years.

Enlisting on September 27, 1914 she was given the rank of Matron and attached to the 2nd Australian General Hospital. Jean left Sydney in October 1914 for Alexandria, Egypt and in 1915 worked at Mena House Hotel then the Hospital Ship Gascon in the Mediterranean.

In 1916 she worked at Ghezireh Palace Hotel, Cairo and at Ismailia. While in Egypt Jean was awarded the Royal Red Cross 1st Class.

In September 1916 Jean went to England and for two years toiled in hospitals in England and France including Dartford, Abbeville, Dieppe, Southall, and Sutton Veney.

Less than two weeks before war ended Jean died of Spanish flu in England, the only Tasmanian nurse to die on active service.

Hugh Michael of Glengarry enlisted and sailed in 1916 with great expectations. In post cards to cousin Alex Fraser, although enjoying the trip, he felt sick being such a long way from home.

Upon arrival in France he was killed in action on the battlefields of the Somme on April 15, 1917.

The family still has the bible he was given when he left home, showing the bullet that killed him passing through.

Descendants from the Fraser family will travel to France in July to see his name on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.

Charlie, the son of James Lee, of the agricultural machinery manufactures at the time, Lee Brothers, enlisted in the 12th Battalion on August 20, 1914 aged 19.

On October 20 when they left for Egypt his diary reads, "Finished our training. All round we did not have too good a time. Glad to get away from the sand. Room for improvement in a good many things".

From Egypt he went to Lemnos from where the Gallipoli landing was launched. Of that fateful day he wrote, "Landed on Gallipoli Peninsula at 4:25 am. on 25th. All we know is what was going on around our little selves. We had a jolly rough time".

The diary describes his observations until his last entry on August 6, "Turks attacked and occupied temporarily. Roused them out again. Heavy losses both side."

Charlie was wounded on August 8 in the Battle of Lone Pine and died August 12 aged 20.

Harry Marshall enlisted in the army aged 19 and was appointed to 26th Battalion. He was hospitalised many times after being gassed and on October 4, 1917 was awarded the Military Medal for Bravery on the Field.

While at Brighton Hospital, England, he became engaged to nurse, Alice Isted and before returning to a war zone, Alice gave him a prayer book, which he kept in his breast pocket. It saved his life when a bullet was fired directly into him.

Harry later posted the prayer book home to his parents in Tasmania, but sadly the boat sank and only the photo remains.

He and Alice married in England, moved to Tasmania and were married 50 years. Both died in 1969.

Archie enlisted in September of 1914 and after the usual training was sent overseas.

Landing at Gallipoli on or around April 25 he served there with distinction until suffering a gunshot wound to the head on May 9.

As a result of this wound he was invalided back to Australia and discharged later that year. Upon return he was presented with a white feather by someone who didn't know of his service.

Although he had nothing to prove, he re-enlisted in early 1916 and again departed for overseas. Serving in France and Belgium with distinction he was promoted to Corporal.

A bit of a jokester who liked a laugh according to family, he, like a lot of soldiers, found himself in his fair share of trouble off and on. As a result he went up and down in rank on a couple of occasions. However he was always described as a good soldier who did his duty.

He was wounded in action again in April 1917, this time in the shoulder and spent some time in England recovering.

Upon his return he served with continued distinction until April 1918 when he suffered a fatal thigh wound and died as a result on April 18.

The nursing staff said he didn't complain, was very brave and fought to the end, indicative of the exceptional man he was.

He lies now at rest in a small cemetery in Belgium. Though he may be gone he will continue to live in the hearts of his family forever.

Thomas Michael McGree and his brother William Francis McGree were sons of Michael McGree and Mary née Welsh, a farming family at Karoola.

Thomas enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in Tasmania, on October 17 1916.

On December 6 as Private No. 2850 he embarked from Melbourne and after training in England, joined 40th Australian Infantry Battalion reinforcements in France in August 1917.

He was wounded (a severe gunshot to his right thigh) on October 4, treated and convalesced in hospitals in England, then rejoined his Battalion in the field on April 18 1918.

Just 12 days later, on April 30, Thomas was killed in action. The unit had been cleaning up an unoccupied enemy post in the Ancre Valley when it was bombarded by enemy rifle grenades.

Thomas was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is buried at Mericourt-L'Abbe Communal Cemetery Extension, France.

William enlisted in the AIF in Dandenong, Victoria, on January 20 1917. On February19 as Private No. 3110, he embarked from Melbourne for England on the troopship SS Ballarat.

The ship was torpedoed in the English Channel on April 25 and sunk the following morning but reportedly no lives were lost of the 1752 servicemen and crew onboard.

After training in England William joined 40th Battalion reinforcements in France, in September 1917. He sustained a severe gunshot wound to his left ankle on October 5 (one day after his brother Thomas was wounded).

Following treatment in England he was ruled unfit for return to duty and embarked for Australia in February 1918.

William was discharged from the AIF on June 14 1918; he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was granted a Soldier Settlement block of 84 acres at Koo Wee Rup, Victoria, but relinquished the farm in 1921 due to health issues. William married in 1919. He died in Ararat in 1957, aged 63 years.

"None of us know what happened, but he was a particularly fine chap. He would do any mortal thing for the men, always full of fun and good cheer, and was intensely popular."

Those are the words of Patrick Dillon, describing James William Levis, a young man from Hobart who had been killed the first time he went into battle.

James was born in 1889 to parents Young and Mary Virginia Levis. He had an older brother, Robert, and two younger sisters, Violet and Eva. Their father, Young Levis, worked as a dairyman after emigrating from Schull, Ireland, in 1884.

James was a carpenter and his brother was a land engine operator, and the family lived together on Lansdowne Crescent, West Hobart.

On July 26, 1915 James enlisted as a private in the AIF, aged 25, and was given the service number 2500. His Certificate of Medical Examination included a notable distinctive mark:

"Tattoo female figures (nude) on both forearms, flags down left."

On the evening of July 28, 1916, a year after James enlisted, the men of the 7th Brigade were transferred from Albert, France, to the front line at Pozières where they took up positions in Tramway Trench; they were to lead the assault later that night.

Their objectives, the heavily defended OG1 and OG2 lines north of the village.

For James, it was his first time in battle.

The attack was a disaster.

The German troops had watched the Australians dig their jumping-off trenches and were able to arrange extra defences in preparation for the attack.

When the Australians went over the top shortly after midnight, they were confronted with a hailstorm of machine-gun and rifle fire.

Despite the fierce resistance, the men managed to break into OG1 but their artillery bombardment had proved inadequate and had left the barbed wire in front of OG2 largely uncut.

Shelling had cut the signal wires and the men lost all communication, with casualties rising, they were ordered to retreat.

No one knew that James had been killed

Six weeks after the 26th Battalion were relieved from Pozières, James' remains were discovered by Private Andrew Graham of the 10th Battalion (Canadians), Canadian Expeditionary Force.

He took possession of a diary and several letters which he found in the pockets, before mailing them home to Young Levis along with a letter he wrote describing how he discovered his son's remains.

Meanwhile, Young Levis stated that he had received a letter on March 14, 1917, claiming to be written by James, however, it was not in his handwriting.

It was suspected that someone was impersonating James in an attempt take hold of any packages addressed to him, but it was considered impossible to find who had actually written the letter and the case was not investigated.

A court of enquiry was held on June 29, 1917, and it was declared that James had been killed during the 26th Battalion's first charge at Pozières, on July 29, 1916.

Along with James, 15 other Hobart men of the 26th Battalion lost their lives at Pozières, 11 of whom remain missing.

In 1925, James' remains were being moved to a permanent cemetery when a metal disc and tobacco box with the initials J.W.L. were discovered and were then returned to Young Levis.

James now lies at rest in the Bouzincourt Communal Cemetery Extension, not far from where he fell at Pozières.

Of the 484 soldiers buried there, he is one of five Australians, and the only Tasmanian.

At 18, Charles Joseph Harwood enlisted in the army on June 18, 1917. He left Melbourne on August 4, 1917 and returned to Australia on March 23, 1919.