BOOKSHELF – Vetaffairs April 2025
Peas, Beans and Bullets – Aussie Diggers supporting the Combat Force
By Russ Morison
This book tells the story about the efforts of Supply Platoon soldiers to feed our soldiers in Vung Tau, Nui Dat and other places where our countrymen and women served. It is written by those who served with the Australian Army during the Vietnam conflict. Three meals a day, piece of cake (pun intended). Not when you live in a foreign land. Someone has to provide, and our diggers did just that. Filled with stories from those who served, amusing anecdotes, glossy photos, three platoon nominal rolls remembering those no longer with us and more.
- Pages: 119
- Cost: $30 + postage
- To buy: dabblers3@gmail.com or 0408947935
Death By Misadventure: The True Story of the Wodonga Tragedy
By Andrew Johnston
On a dark foggy evening in May 1943, a timber bus packed with jubilant servicemen and women on well-deserved leave collided with a massive railway engine travelling in reverse with lights blacked out due to wartime regulations. In an instant, 25 lives were lost, and countless others shattered. This gripping true story unravels the chain of events leading to the collision, the harrowing aftermath, the extraordinary heroics of those who fought to save lives, and the grieving families’ fight for justice against a wall of bureaucratic indifference. Death by Misadventure: The True Story of the Wodonga Tragedy, brings to life a forgotten chapter of Australian history, honouring the victims and survivors.
- Cost: $39.99
- To Buy: Contact Andrew: wodongatragedy1943@outlook.com
Jack’s Promises
By Grahame Elliott
Frieda and her 4 children leave the city to follow her husband Jack to Cloncurry, a small town in western Queensland, unaware of the tragedy and sorrow that lies ahead. Jack is obsessed with finding a copper motherlode in the abandoned mines and will sacrifice everything to find it. When they are forced to return to the city, Frieda discovers Jack’s secret, causing her frustrated love to turn into bitterness and a desire for revenge. Jack’s Promises is based on a true story of the author’s mother, a war widow, her love for her children and her struggle to survive in the Australian outback from 1937 to 1944, during the Great Depression and Second World War.
- Pages: 309
- Cost: Kindle $5.99; Paperback $18.16
- To buy: Amazon
Her Great Adventure – Dorothy ‘Puss’ Campbell WW2 Army Nursing Sister
By Janet Scarfe
This is a fresh, factual and engaging account of Australian Army nursing in the Second World War. Dorothy ‘Puss’ Campbell was one of 3,600 members of the Australian Army Nursing Service. She served in England, Egypt, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Queensland and Adelaide from 1940 to 1946. Professional historian Dr Janet Scarfe shows Puss and her colleagues nursing in many challenging circumstances. The sisters’ lives away from the wards also come to light – their travels, sightseeing, friendships and romances. Puss’s personal diaries and photographs have been woven together with the official records of the hospitals where she served.
- Pages: 320
- Cost: $39.99 plus postage
- To buy: www.openbookhowden.com.au/bookshop, or via the author at janet.scarfe@internode.on.net
From Vietnam Nasho to Catching School Crooks
By Colin O’Neill
Colin O'Neill, a National Service conscript in the Australian Army during 1967–69, provides his honest reflection of service in Vietnam. It is an eye-opening account that varies from the harsh realities of war to the inside of a career as an unsworn member of the Victorian Police Department and fulfilling the role of Head of School Security for the Victorian Education Department. A life given to serving, protecting, and preventing crime, Colin's story is filled with humour, notorious and unbelievable truths, and an unmatchable glimpse into this time from the 60s through to the 90s.
- Pages: 456
- Cost: $38
- To buy: Amazon and other well-known bookstores
Operation Hurricane – The Story of Britain’s First Atomic Test in Australia and the Legacy That Remains
By Paul Grace
On 3 October 1952, Britain's first atomic bomb was detonated in the hold of a surplus frigate, HMS Plym, off the north-west coast of Western Australia. The blast produced a mushroom cloud 2 miles high and covered the islands and parts of the Australian mainland with fallout. Operation Hurricane tells the story of the test from the point of view of the men on the ground: soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians. It delves into the historical context of the Cold War and examines the controversial legacy of the atomic tests, including the impact of fallout on servicemen, Aboriginal peoples and the environment, as well as Australia's relationship with the United Kingdom.
- Pages: 435
- Cost: $26.95
- To buy: Amazon
Judy, A Dog in a Million – The Heartwarming Story of WWII’s Only Animal Prisoner of War
By Damien Lewis
Judy, a beautiful English pointer and the only animal prisoner of war of the Second World War, was cherished and adored by the British, Australian, American and other Allied servicemen who fought to survive alongside her. Judy's uncanny ability to sense danger, matched with her quick-thinking and impossible daring saved countless lives. She was a close companion to men who became like a family to her, sharing in both the tragedies and joys they faced. It was in recognition of the extraordinary friendship and protection she offered amidst the unforgiving and savage environment of a Japanese prison camp in Indonesia that she gained her formal status as a POW.
- Pages: 351
- Cost: from $11.99
- To buy: Amazon
1st Australian Logistic Support Company
By Russ Morison
In May 1965, 1 Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR) deployed to South Vietnam. A newly created company of many disparate support elements was cobbled together with 3 weeks’ notice to accompany and support 1 RAR. This is the first known book dealing exclusively with the activities of 1ALSC, the 1st Australian Logistic Support Company. While this book is about “ordinary soldiers” going about their professional business, it is also about healing, as some of our veterans and our Allies have returned to the Republic of Vietnam post conflict to help rebuild the country after all those years of conflict.
- Pages: 270
- Cost: e-book $4.99. Hardcover price on application.
- To buy: dabblers3@gmail.com or call 0408 947 935
Troubled Zen
By Wolfric Styler
This book introduces a new hero – former Royal Engineer and Explosive Ordnance Disposal operator, Zenobia Martinez. Having survived some of the worst war zones in modern history, Zenobia decides to leave the British Army and return to the quiet life in Australia to rebuild her life. Other events take over and she is caught in the crossfire of cartels, violence and revenge. She leans on her military skills and instincts to survive and protect the people she loves. Running away has never been an option. Book 2 of the series, Chasing Zen, is due out in August 2025 in e-book, print and audio.
- Pages: 215
- Cost: $16.50 (paperback), $3–$4 (e-book)
- To Buy: Amazon and other online and in store bookshops
The Blight
By Clark (Barney) Flint
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Clark Flint sets his story in 2024, when planet earth is being gripped by naturally occurring weather disasters that are significantly affecting global food production. As the planet has warmed, a simple but merciless fungus has emerged and been left to spread unabated. By the early 2020s, starvation reached unprecedented levels in 3rd world countries. The fungus – or ‘blight’ as it has become known – colonises plant species and appears to be impervious to all attempts to destroy it. As the world teeters on the precipice of disaster, a small privately funded team of Australian researchers race against time to use science and mother nature to defeat the blight.
- Pages: 278
- Cost: $16.50
- To Buy: Amazon and Kindle online or clark65flint@gmail.com for a signed copy ($22 including postage)
Private Chris Roost KIA Vietnam 68’
By Cheryl Roost
This book is a revised edition of the popular book Mary in the Morning, a unique true story of a Vietnam soldier killed in action on his first wedding anniversary. At 20 years old, Christopher Roost was conscripted into the Army as a National Serviceman. The book follows his journey through training, marriage and his experiences during the war. It shares his thoughts through precious letters to his family and tells the incredible story of the impact of war on our young Aussies. It also reflects on the horrors of war and, in particular, the loss of a loved one in the duty of serving his country.
- Pages: 245
- Cost: $32.94
- To buy: Amazon
A Time to Return
By Andrew Johnston
Harry Thomson grew up in an Australian country town, determined to break free from his destiny as a shearer’s son. The Second World War became his escape route, leading him to enlist and board the Queen Mary with the 2nd Australian Infantry Force. But instead of adventure, Harry faced the horrors of Changi prison and the brutal death railway. Returning home, he began his greatest battle – life – where alcohol became his refuge. Decades later, Harry vanished, his whereabouts unknown until friend and great-grandson of a fellow former POW, Charlie, embarked on a search. A Time to Return uses historical events in a fictional narrative in a gripping tale of survival, friendship and the enduring power of the human spirit.
- Pages: 410
- Cost: From $6.76 e-book and $24.50 hardcover
- To buy: Austin Macauley Publishers, Amazon, Barnes and Noble or via the author at kapookatragedy1945@hotmail.com
In the Fight – Australians and the War in Burma 1942–1945
By Andrew Kilsby and Daryl Moran
In the Fight tells the compelling stories behind the involvement of Australians in what became one of the great sagas of the war against the Japanese in South East Asia. While Australian airmen attached to the Royal Air Force were heavily engaged, many other Australians both uniformed and civilian were part of the monumental struggle to turn ‘defeat into victory’ in Burma.
- Pages: 400
- Cost: From $24
- To buy: Amazon, Big W and other bookstores
Of service
By Jenani Therone
Of Service is an extraordinary fine art publication by Jenani Therone, honouring over 100 Australian veterans from across all services and deployments – Second World War to the present. Years in the making, forged through deep personal connections, veterans shared their untold stories of sacrifice, resilience, and healing. Launched at the Shrine of Remembrance, with a foreword by the Hon Dr Brendan Nelson AO, the book is both tribute and testimony – revealing strength, vulnerability, and the enduring cost of service. Exquisitely crafted and printed in Florence – the birthplace of the Renaissance – Of Service stands as a timeless work of art, preserving history through portraiture and the profound silence that echoes beyond their words.
- Pages: 656
- Cost: $279
- To Buy: Australian War Memorial Shop or directly from the artist: https://www.jenanitherone.com.au/of-service