chris tillett <ch_till@yahoo.com.au> wrote: I am trying to track WW2 records for Victor Kenneth Charman born 2/11/1921 who enlisted in Bathurst. Surely he would have had service medals allocated. ... the family has a picture of him (in uniform) and his mates on return to Australia. One would have thought that someone born in 1921 would have volunteered or been conscripted in 1940 or 1941 and served full time from 1942 until 1945. Does the family have any idea what Mr Charman did during the war. Did he have a trade or occupation that would have exempted him from full time service. Maybe Mr Charman served with the part time Volunteer Defence Corps whose records are not as well preserved as the records of the Australian Army. If Mr Charman served in the Volunteer Defence Corps he may have been eligible for two medals but he would have had to apply for them. Does the family have any other material other than the photo. Does the uniform give any clue as to his unit. Is there a colour patch on his shoulder? Have the others in the photo been identified and interviewed? Has there been a search for a service number. Australian Army personnel had two original service records, one record stayed in Australia and one travelled with the serviceman's unit. After the war the two records were reconciled and one copy is now at NAA and the other at DVA. So it would be extremely unlikely that both copies were lost. If Mr Charman served overseas with the Australian forces then the most likely reason service records cannot be found is that he served under an alias. If Mr Charman served in the islands for at least six months and was in the Army for at least eighteen months he would have eligible for four campaign medals. However, he would have had to apply for the issue of the medals and he may be one of thousands of Second World War servicemen who have never applied.