| What is the World War Two Nominal Roll? |
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The World War Two Nominal Roll was created to honour and commemorate some one million people who served in Australia's defence forces and the Merchant Navy during this conflict.
The Nominal Roll provides all Australians with access to an index of information from approximately one million records of servicemen and women who were in Australia's defence forces and the Merchant Navy during World War Two.
The Nominal Roll also provides a 'snapshot' of individual service, by displaying a range of information on each person, gathered from service records. For more detailed information on an individual, please refer to complete service records held by the National Archives of Australia.
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| Who is included? |
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The Nominal Roll contains the service details of some one million individuals who served with Australia's defence forces and the Merchant Navy during the period 3 September 1939 to 2 September 1945. The number of individuals collected for the Nominal Roll include some 50,600 members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), 845,000 from the Australian Army, and 218,300 members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as well as approximately 3,500 merchant mariners.
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| Who is not included? |
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Australians who served with other Commonwealth or Allied Forces are not included in this Nominal Roll. Respective overseas countries may hold the World War Two service records for those Australians. In addition, those who served in the Australian Women's Land Army, the Australian Red Cross and philanthropic organisations, are not included in this Roll.
To obtain the contact details for overseas service records, click on the relevant country below:
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Republic of South Africa
United Kingdom
United States
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| How was the Roll compiled? |
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The Nominal Roll was compiled by extracting data from original service records held by the Department of Defence. Data for merchant mariners was retrieved from the microfilm of
service record cards held by the National Archives of Australia. Additional information concerning those who died was obtained from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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| Where are the service records held? |
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The records of those who served for the period of World War Two are held by the National Archives of Australia.
An index of the service records can be viewed on the Archives website. For a small fee, a photocopy of a service record can be purchased.
The records of those who continued to serve post-World War Two are held by the Department of Defence.
Merchant Navy records are held on microfilm by Archives.
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| Glossary of Ranks |
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A Glossary of Ranks page has been produced to assist with the service ranks and abbreviations used during World War Two.
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| Assistance with research |
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Should you require assistance to undertake further research, the Australian War Memorial and the National Archives of Australia are available to assist you.
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| What if an individual doesn't want to be listed on the Nominal Roll? |
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Individuals were given an opportunity to have their service details excluded from the website prior to it being published.
However, should a veteran still wish to exclude their details, they should submit a written request to:
World War Two Nominal Roll
Department of Veterans' Affairs
PO Box 21
WODEN ACT 2606
If you are a relative or acting on behalf of a veteran, you will need to include in your letter documentary proof of your bona fides, such as an enduring power of attorney.
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| Search criteria |
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In the majority of cases, the more information you include in your search request, the more success you will have in locating an individual.
The exception will be where an individual is more commonly known by their second or third given name, rather than their first given name. For example, the service record may have the name 'Alphonse William Smith'. However, the individual may be more commonly known as 'Bill Smith'. In this example, a search of the Nominal Roll for 'Bill Smith' may not deliver a satisfactory result. In this case it would be better to search by Smith, combined with a particular service.
For family names such as O'Meara, if an initial search fails to locate the required individual, try searching on O' Meara or OMeara, combined with a particular service.
Search fields are not case sensitive.
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| Data collected |
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For each person, the following information has been data collected from the original service record:
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| Field |
Description |
| Name |
The individual's full name as recorded on the official record of service document.
If the individual served under an alias, that information will also be displayed where known. Nicknames will not be displayed, as they are not recorded on the service record.
If a woman married while enlisted, and the military authority amended the service record to her married surname, then that surname will be displayed. This approach has been taken so that the displayed surname aligns with the surname recorded on the paper service record. In such cases, a maiden name has not been collected.
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| Service |
Reference to one of the three branches of Australia's defence forces - Royal Australian Navy (RAN); Australian Army; Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF); or the Australian Merchant Navy (MN).
Where an individual served in more than one branch of Australia's defence forces, each period of service will be displayed as a separate record. To view all records for an individual, select 'ALL' in the Service box.
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| Service number |
The number allocated to the individual on enlistment into one of the three branches of Australia's defence forces. This number may be numeric, or an alpha/numeric combination. RAN officers, some RAN ratings and merchant mariners do not have a service number. In these cases, the words 'not applicable' will be displayed in the Service Number field on the Service Record screen.
In selecting the information to be displayed on the website, the Department was aware that some Defence Force members had multiple periods of service within the one branch of the armed forces. For example, where an Army veteran had multiple periods of World War 2 service, the totality of that service may not always be reflected on the Nominal Roll website. This is the result of how that individual’s service dossier was managed during, and after, the War. In some individual cases, each period of service was filed on its own dossier with its unique service number. In these cases, an individual will have multiple entries on the Nominal Roll website. In other cases, the periods of service have been amalgamated under the one service number. That number is the primary service number and will be displayed on the website with all other known service numbers in brackets after it. For situations such as these, the Department will, on a case by case basis, review an individual’s dossier and amend the enlistment details as appropriate.
The primary service number is the number under which the paper service record is stored.
Where an individual served in more than one branch of the armed forces, the record(s) will be displayed for each branch of the service.
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| Date of birth |
The date nominated by the individual as their date of birth. Generally for merchant mariners, only the year of birth is recorded.
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| Place of birth |
The city/town/country nominated by the individual as their place of birth.
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| Date of enlistment/engagement |
The date an individual signed their enlistment Attestation Form for service in Australia's defence forces or, for the Merchant Navy, the date a merchant mariner engaged on a ship at the commencement of, or, during the war.
Some defence force individuals had multiple periods of service. In these cases, the service information displayed on the website reflects the period of service covered by the primary service number. Consequently, the full period of service for an individual may not be displayed on this website. That information is available from an individual's service record.
The primary service number is the number under which the paper service record is stored.
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| Locality on enlistment/engagement |
The residential address nominated by the individual as being their home address at the time of enlistment/engagement.
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| Place of enlistment/engagement |
| Army and RAAF - |
The city/town/country where the individual was recruited into Australia's defence forces. |
| Merchant Navy - |
The port where the merchant mariner signed on as a member of a ship's crew at the commencement or during the war. |
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| Home Port/Port Division |
| RAN - |
Melbourne and Sydney were the Home Ports accepted for Officers of the RAN. |
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Melbourne, Sydney & Fremantle were accepted as Port Divisions for ratings of the RAN. |
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| Next of kin |
The person nominated as being the next of kin by the individual.
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| Date of discharge/last engagement |
The date the individual was officially discharged from Australia's defence forces. For merchant mariners the last engagement date is the date they left their last ship during or at the end of the war.
Some defence force individuals had multiple periods of service. In these cases, the service information displayed on the website reflects the period of service covered by the primary service number. Consequently, the full period of service for an individual may not be displayed on this website. That information is available from an individual's service record.
The primary service number is the number under which the paper service record is stored.
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| Date of death |
Indicates the date of death, during war service, of the individual as recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. For the purposes of the Commission, the period of World War Two is 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947.
Where an individual was discharged and subsequently died from war service prior to 31 December 1947, the Commission records their death. In these cases, both dates will be displayed.
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| Rank/capacity |
The substantive rank (excludes brevet, honorary, acting or temporary) held by the individual at their date of discharge/death.
For merchant mariners it is the capacity (rank) held on their last ship at the war's end or at the time of their death.
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| Posting at discharge or death/last ship |
The last posting of an operational nature in which the individual served prior to their discharge or death. In collecting this information, every endeavour has been made to avoid postings to which an individual was allotted for discharge purposes only.
For merchant mariners, 'last ship' indicates the name of the ship on which the mariner served at the war's end or at the time of their death.
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| WW2 Honours and Gallantry |
Indicates any Imperial honour or gallantry award conferred on an individual during World War Two, and that entitles the recipient to use a post-nominal after their name. For example, the Military Medal (MM).
As the Mentioned-in-Despatches (MID) does not entitle the recipient to use a post-nominal, it is not displayed on the Nominal Roll.
In deciding not to display the MID, the Department also took into consideration that the MID was not a medal in its own right.
Rather, the award of an MID is signified by the Oakleaf device which is always worn on another medal.
For World War Two service the MID is worn on the ribbon of the War Medal, 1939-1945.
Furthermore, the MID does not appear on the Order of Wearing Australian Honours and Awards approved from time to time by the Governor-General or in past London Gazettes.
The latest Order of Wearing is listed in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No. S101 of 4 April 2002.
Gazette S101 may be viewed at the http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au website.
This position is consistent with both the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Office of Australian War Graves who do not include the MID on their official commemorations.
Campaign stars, service medals, commemorative medals, or medals and honours conferred by a foreign country, are also not included.
The issuing of honour and gallantry awards and service and campaign medals are the responsibility of the Department of Defence. Contact details for each service medal section are available on the Contacts and Links page.
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| Prisoner of War |
Indicates whether the individual was a prisoner of war. It does not indicate in which theatre of war they were captured.
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| Roll of Honour |
Indicates the individual's name is listed on a community Roll of Honour in Australia. This information has been sourced from individual casualty records held by the Office of Australian War Graves.
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| Unknown |
Some records may contain the word, 'Unknown'. This means that there may have been no such information in the service record, or there was information, but it was indecipherable.
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| Printing a Certificate of Service |
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You may print a certificate displaying service details for an individual. This feature may be accessed by clicking on the 'Create Certificate' button when you have selected an individual record.
The certificate is designed to be printed in landscape format. You may need to check your settings before printing the certificate.
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| Printing other pages |
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The search results page and all other pages, excluding the 'Certificate of Service', have been designed to print in portrait format.
You may need to check your settings before printing these screens.
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| Accuracy of data collection |
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Every effort has been made to ensure that the Nominal Roll is as accurate as possible.
In order to ensure the Nominal Roll's authenticity, the data was collected from the original service records. The Roll relies on the information contained in those records.
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| The data collection process |
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The aim of the project was to correlate and publish historically relevant information collected from individual service records spanning the World War Two period. The information collected during this project goes beyond the typical name and service number lists of previous Nominal Rolls to include some personal details and a snapshot of service activity.
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| What service documents were used to source this information? |
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The following Service-specific documentation was used to source the information:
- Royal Australian Navy – Record of Service Card.
- Australian Army – Attestation, Discharge and Record of Service Forms.
- Royal Australian Air Force – Enlistment, Attestation and Record of Service Forms.
- The Merchant Navy – Record of Service Card.
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| Was the information always available from these service documents for each individual? |
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No, typically one or more of these documents would be used to provide as much information as possible. However, in the absence of these preferred forms, other non-standard forms such as letters or even photos were used to provide, as a minimum, the key information of a service number and surname. Where information was not available, incomplete or indecipherable, the information field displays 'unknown'.
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| Were problems experienced in recording the information contained in these documents? |
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Several factors made the task of 'getting it right' a challenge.
Enlistment documents were generally handwritten by individuals at the time. Variations in handwriting and spelling, as well as amended details on some documents, made information difficult to interpret.
Document age and format, as well as missing documents and inconsistent information, also made the process of gathering the base data a challenge.
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| What processes were used to overcome difficulties? |
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The Department of Veterans' Affairs contractor, Pickfords Records and Information Managers, used a four check process to ensure quality control. The primary quality assurance tool was a double entry computer process. Each record had its information entered by one operator and then entered again by a different operator. The computer program compared the two entries and identified any differences between the two. If a discrepancy appeared the computer program required the second operator to re-examine the service document before the record could be processed further. This method was designed to eliminate typographical and data source errors normally encountered in a highly intensive data entry environment.
At the completion of the double data entry process, the production supervisor conducted a sign-off check. During this check, individual records would be grouped and sorted so that similar information could be compared and obvious errors or omissions rectified before the work was signed off from the production line.
The data then underwent a final internal review by the contractor's production manager. This review was conducted prior to each fortnightly external audit. Thousands of records were reviewed to correct any major errors.
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| How to contact us |
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If you have any comments about the World War Two Nominal Roll, contact the Department of Veterans' Affairs:
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nominal.rolls@dva.gov.au |
| telephone |
1300 780 133 (local call charge) |
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| Commonwealth disclaimer |
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By accessing the information presented in this media, each user waives and releases the Commonwealth of Australia to the full extent permitted by law from any and all claims relating to the usage of material or information made available through the World War Two Nominal Roll Internet website. In no event shall the Commonwealth of Australia be liable for any incidental or consequential damages resulting from use of the material. In particular and without limit to the generality of the above, information provided in publications of the Commonwealth Government is considered to be true and correct at the time of publication. Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may affect the accuracy of this information and the Commonwealth Government gives no assurance as to the accuracy of any information or advice contained herein.
The World War Two Nominal Roll is a reference source only. Inclusion herein and the record of details for any person in no way confers evidence of eligibility for any award, medal, pension, health care entitlement or any kind of benefit.
The Commonwealth of Australia, its officers, servants and agents, disclaim all liability for the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done by any person in reliance upon the World War Two Nominal Roll or any information contained in that Nominal Roll.
In addition to information provided by the Department, links are provided to external Internet sites. These external information sources are outside the control of the Department and the Commonwealth and it is the responsibility of Internet users to make their own decisions about the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of information found therein. In some cases the material may incorporate or summarise views, standards or recommendations of third parties. Such material does not necessarily reflect the considered views of the Commonwealth, or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action.
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| No Spam |
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The publication of electronic addresses on this website is for the information
of users. DVA does not authorise the receipt of commercial electronic messages
(generally known as spam) at any published electronic address. They are to be
used for legitimate correspondence only - no spam.
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| Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2002. |
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This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved.
Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney General’s Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 or posted at
http://www.ag.gov.au/cca
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Commonwealth of Australia 2002. |
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