BOOKSHELF – Vetaffairs December 2023
The following books, often self-published, have been written by, for and with veterans. The books, and their descriptions, are submitted by readers and DVA takes no responsibility for the accuracy of their content or the opinions expressed in them.
If you have a book for a subsequent edition, please email vetaffairs [at] dva.gov.au. Please provide the following: title, name of author, blurb (short description that we reserve the right to edit), publisher (if any), price, how to buy it, and image of the front cover. Submitting a book does not guarantee publication.
On this page
- The Men of the 2/26 Battalion: Their stories will not be forgotten
- Easy Prey: Volume 1 – An Imperial Challenge
- Running Deep – An Australian Submarine Life
- Jellybeans in the Jungle
- Sisters in Captivity
- No Longer a Soldier
- Medieval Military Combat
- The Skyhawk Years – The A-4 Skyhawk in Australian Service 1968–1984
- Now And Forever – never walk alone in the dark
- Bombers North – Allied bomber operations from Northern Australia 1942–1945
- Bubbles, Booze, Bombs and Bastards – a clearance diver’s story
- The Power of Love
- The Lost Boys
- An Unlikely Diplomat – A Memoir
- A Source of Pride – a History of No 22 (City of Sydney) Squadron 1936 – 1946
- Fading Memories of an Old Soldier
- Hidden Courage – My Life as a Female Australian Soldier
- Sons of War
The Men of the 2/26 Battalion: Their stories will not be forgotten
By Lyn Wright and Lyn Anderson
In 1942, the men of 2/26 Battalion were captured by the Japanese in Singapore after valiantly fighting down the Malay Peninsula to Singapore. The men spent 3 ½ years as POWs of the Japanese before the survivors were released and returned to Australia. They were told never to tell anyone about their time as POWs as no one would believe them. The men kept their silence. As the men reached their 80s, they started to share some of their stories at reunions. Two of their daughters listening to these tales decided to capture them in a book before they were lost.
- Pages: 971
- Cost: $90 plus postage
- To buy: roadley [at] optusnet.com.au
Easy Prey: Volume 1 – An Imperial Challenge
By David B Hoy
Easy Prey is a systematic and thorough evaluation of Australia’s capability in defending itself as an independent nation from the perspective of the history of its military intelligence. Easy Prey explores the successes and, more notably, the shortcomings and all-too-frequent stumbling in Australia. It ranges across a panoply of involved parties: the military; the politicians; the early days of the colonies, then later, the states and the Commonwealth; the early settlers; the geographic imperatives; the ‘Mother Country’; a horde of others, especially the Russians, French and Japanese.
- Pages: 252
- Cost: $32.50 plus postage
- To buy: Boolarong Press, Dymocks, Booktopia, The Booktree, Rhonda’s Refits
Running Deep – An Australian Submarine Life
By Commodore Peter Scott, CSC, RAN (Retired)
‘Service with our Navy's main strike weapon is a mystery for most Australians. If we are to comprehend the terms of our survival, we must know. This beautifully written memoir is our key.’ – The Honourable Kim Beazley, AC. In this honest and enlightening tale, Peter Scott shares his quest for self-acceptance, and for the courage, commitment and compassion to lead the warriors of Australia's Silent Service.
- Pages: 288
- Cost: $34.99
- To Buy: Fremantle Press, Amazon, Booktopia, and all good bookstores in hardcopy, e-book and audio-book format
Jellybeans in the Jungle
By Bob Whittaker
Jellybeans in the Jungle is one man’s attempt to make sense of his experience as a conscripted soldier during Australia’s war in Vietnam. Bob Whittaker was called up for National Service when he was a primary school teacher and deployed to Vietnam in 1970. Bob describes his service, punctuated by some grim encounters with both enemy and friendly troops, his R & R in Bangkok, his return to Australia and rehabilitation as a teacher of children with disabilities. Bob returned to Vietnam in 2006 and 2007, and his reflections during these journeys provide a fascinating insight into conflict and reconciliation.
- Pages: 173
- Cost: Hard copy – $32 including postage (within Australia only); e-book – $7.50
- To Buy: jellybeansinthejungle.blogspot.com
Sisters in Captivity
By Colin Burgess
Sub-titled Sister Betty Jeffrey OAM and the Courageous Story of Australian Army Nurses in Sumatra, 1942–1945, the book tells the inspiring true life story of Sister Jeffrey, who kept a secret diary during her three-year captivity by the Japanese, later published as White Coolies. Along with her Australian Army Nursing Service colleagues, she endured the Japanese invasion of Singapore and the tragic sinking of the Vyner Brooke, narrowly escaping the massacre of 21 Australian nurses on Bangka Island. Held in filthy, pestilential jungle camps, and deprived of sustainable food and medicines, most survived by forming a strong bond of sisterhood to see them through until liberation.
- Pages: 331
- Cost: $34.99
- To buy: Simon & Schuster (Sydney)
No Longer a Soldier
By Donna Bourke
Donna Bourke’s story No Longer a Soldier is the long-awaited sequel to her memoir, Hidden Courage – My Life as a Female Australian Soldier. Donna’s post service story continues from the day of her medical discharge from the Army after a career spanning over three decades. Despite the reality and challenges of managing post-traumatic stress, debilitating physical injuries and facing the darkness of suicidal ideations, this story is one of courage. But this time, it isn’t all about Donna. Five current and ex-serving veterans have added their voices with powerful stories that will surprise and educate the reader on a life of service.
- Pages: 240+
- Cost: $28.95
- To buy: http://www.inhousepublishing.com.au
Medieval Military Combat
By Dr Tom Lewis
Medieval Military Combat – Battle Tactics and Fighting Techniques of the Wars of the Roses is an expose of how medieval warriors actually fought as opposed to the myths of movies. The Honourable Austin Asche AC QC, a Second World War veteran, writes: ‘The author’s careful research convinces us that, particularly in the medieval period, descriptions of battles and the amount of men fighting in them are often exaggerated. The author gives rational and persuasive arguments why the number of men involved and the numbers of the dead and wounded were grossly inflated; as was the significance of any particular battle.’
- Pages: 256
- Cost: $45.00 including postage
- To buy: Contact the author tom.lewis2619 [at] gmail.com (tom[dot]lewis2619[at]gmail[dot]com)
The Skyhawk Years – The A-4 Skyhawk in Australian Service 1968–1984
By Peter Greenfield and David Prest
The Skyhawk Years is a story of busy and varied deployments around Australia, Southeast Asia and regularly to the multinational RIMPAC exercises in Hawaii. A particular highlight was a long cruise to the UK in 1977 and participation in the Spithead Naval Review, part of the celebrations for Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee. The challenges of operations from the world's smallest aircraft carrier are well explained with first-hand stories from pilots and maintainers. Some thrilling stories of air combat manoeuvres against fighters from other countries are also told, with the A-4 often surprising more well-credentialed adversaries.
- Pages: 216
- Publisher: Avonmore Books
- Cost: $49.95
- To buy: avonmorebooks.com.au
Now And Forever – never walk alone in the dark
By Michael John Barnes
Now And Forever is a graphic novel containing a collection of short stories that uniquely deals with tragedy and the inevitable grief that follows. Each story has a problem and a solution. Although the novel has dark undertones, it has a bright overtone and a common theme: to keep moving forward. I also talk of how tragedy has changed me, and about how I try to manage it. I asked my longtime friend, former Regimental Sergeant Major of the Special Air Service Regiment Wayne Weeks to contribute a similar piece on how he deals with tragedy and grief, having experienced it at levels beyond most.
- Pages: 50
- Cost: $30.00 plus $9.00 postage
- To buy: Email michael [at] michaeljohnbarnes.com.au (michael[at]michaeljohnbarnes[dot]com[dot]au)
Bombers North – Allied bomber operations from Northern Australia 1942–1945
By Dr Tom Lewis
In early March 1942, amid fears of a Japanese invasion of Australia, two understrength RAAF squadrons of Lockheed Hudsons began a brave fight back against the enemy from the Darwin area. These modest initial efforts were the beginnings of an unwavering campaign by Allied bombers waged from Northern Australia until the end of the war. Drawing on a wealth of new sources, Bombers North presents the full story of a little-known bomber offensive waged from remote northern Australia.
- Pages: 156
- Cost: $39.95
- To buy: avonmorebooks.com.au
Bubbles, Booze, Bombs and Bastards – a clearance diver’s story
By Larry J Digney OAM
This highly illustrated and detailed book covers the exciting life of a Warrant Officer Clearance Diver, Larry J Digney OAM, from his enlistment, through to his war service in Vietnam, service in HMA Ships Stalwart, Parramatta and Supply, Clearance Diving Teams, multiple deployments, salvage of HMAS Arrow following Cyclone Tracy, recovery of the downed Sea King helicopter, Personnel Exchange Programme in the US Navy, parachute training at Lakehurst, New Jersey, discovery of WW2 depth charges at the entrance to Pearl Harbour, experimental diving to 300 metres, and much more.
- Pages: 322
- Cost: $65.00 plus postage
- To buy: Contact Larry Digney at digger.tassie [at] gmail.com (digger[dot]tassie[at]gmail[dot]com)
The Power of Love
By Bob Sten
The Power of Love is set in South Vietnam in early 1968 and begins when a combat engineer (tunnel rat) is sent to a manor house in a rubber plantation to search for hidden mines and booby traps. Based on real events, the first volume of The Conscript Diaries begins a unique yet universal saga about the savagery of war, the failings and nobility of the human condition and, ultimately, the power of love.
- Pages: 400
- Cost: $29.50 (soft cover), $35.00 (hard cover)
- To buy: bobsten.com
The Lost Boys
By Paul Byrnes
In the First World War of 1914–1918, thousands of boys across Australia and New Zealand lied about their age, forged a parent’s signature and left to fight on the other side of the world. The Lost Boys – The untold stories of the under-age soldiers who fought in the First World War captures the incredible and previously untold stories of forty Anzac boys from Gallipoli to the Armistice. Featuring haunting images of the boys taken at training camps and behind the lines, these tales are both heartbreaking and rousing, full of daring, ingenuity, recklessness, random horror and capricious luck.
- Pages: 368
- Cost: $20.00 – $30.00
- To buy: Booktopia, Big W and other book sellers
An Unlikely Diplomat – A Memoir
By George J. Knox
An Unlikely Diplomat – A memoir from an orphanage to a diplomat in Cold War Moscow and an eventful life in public service and business is a true-life story told by a man who believes that, despite his start in life, he succeeded in reaching the almost impossible goals he set for himself at Joint Staff HQ – Office of the Air Attaché, Washington, DC; with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at missions in Moscow, Santiago de Chile and Chicago; through PTSD, and in various businesses, before returning to the public service.
- Pages: 359
- Cost: $29.95
- To buy: Booktopia, Angus & Robertson, Amazon and other book sellers
A Source of Pride – a History of No 22 (City of Sydney) Squadron 1936 – 1946
By Richard Hutchinson
The squadron was formed in 1936 after the Australian Parliament took the advice of the father of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams, who was concerned about the war clouds gathering in Europe. No 22 Squadron’s first assignments of the Second World War were as a training unit covering army support and towing targets for anti-aircraft practice. It served in New Guinea and the South Pacific, and attained the RAAF’s only Victoria Cross in the South Pacific – for Flight Lieutenant W. E. Newton VC.
- Pages: 460
- Cost: $55 plus $15 postage
- To buy: alanlyons [at] optusnet.com.au (alanlyons[at]optusnet[dot]com[dot]au)
Fading Memories of an Old Soldier
By Elvis Bray
Elvis Bray’s memoir about his two years in Vietnam as a US Army helicopter crew chief includes a story called ‘Australians in the Mine Field’. Elvis was flying medical evacuation (dustoff) out of Vung Tau and assisted the Australians evacuate the wounded while their helicopter was being overhauled. It was one of the best times Elvis had while working with the Australians. He said they were as good as any US soldiers he worked with.
- Pages: 139
- Cost: $17.00
- To buy: Amazon
Hidden Courage – My Life as a Female Australian Soldier
By Donna Bourke
A timely memoir of a female Australian soldier's thirty-four-year career from Women's Royal Australian Army Corps School in the late 1970s, to numerous deployments including peacekeeping operations in East Timor, to supporting the global war on terror in Afghanistan. It is also the story of the toll that dedicated service can have on soldiers both physically and mentally. This inspiring story shows how Donna's courage, strength of mind, tenacity and sense of humour helped her embark on her new life as a civilian.
- Pages: 297
- Cost: $28.95
- To buy: http://www.inhousepublishing.com.au
Sons of War
By Paul Byrnes
In the Second World War, thousands of Australian boys lied about their age and volunteered for war. Like many of their fathers in the Great War, they went with their eyes wide shut: under-trained, under-equipped and under-age. This extraordinary book captures the bold and untold stories of forty Australian children who fought in the deadliest war in history. Sons of War – Astonishing stories of under-age Australian soldiers who fought in the Second World War is a deeply personal military history: an homage to youthful bravery, a eulogy for those who fell, and a tribute to those still standing.
- Pages: 384
- Cost: $20.00 – $30.00
- To buy: Booktopia, Big W and other book sellers