Digitising World War II service records

What we've digitised to date

Over the last 4 years, as part of the large-scale World War II Digitisation Project, the vast majority of World War II service records have now been digitised.

This includes:

all Royal Australian Navy service cards from Service Cards for Navy Officers (series A6769) and Service Cards for Petty Officers and Men (series A6770)
all Army service records from Citizen Military Forces personnel service records (series B884) and Second Australian Imperial Force personnel dossiers (series B883)
all Royal Australian Air Force Officers personnel files (series A9300)
a significant portion of Royal Australian Air Force Non-Commissioned Officers and other ranks personnel files (series A9301).

Next steps

Digitised records are now being progressively made available online free-of-charge.

Remaining WWII service records awaiting digitisation will be prioritised over the next 12 months. Records will be temporarily unavailable to the public during this time.

Use our Request for World War II Service Records form if you have a question about access to these records.

Stories of service

Service records are a valuable resource, not just for those interested in the military, but also for family history researchers and anyone interested in the involvement of Australians in our wartime history.

Explore some of the stories we’ve uncovered so far.

VDC colour patch, the letters VDC on a red circle.

Unsung heroes

We remember the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC). 80 years ago, this now largely forgotten force of nearly 100,000 Australians stood ready to help defend Australia.

The Battles for Greece and Crete

'Reported missing'. For the Mann family, these dreaded words were the beginning of an agonising wait to know the fate of their sons.

The quick release buckle believed to have caused the accident.

The North Melbourne air crash

The North Melbourne air crash of 1943 occurred just a few hundred metres from where the National Archives' Victoria office is now located.

Letters of reference

Many service files contain letters of reference from businesses in support of their employees enlisting. Some also show the negative impact of losing staff to the war effort.

Photos of Lieutenant-Colonel Margaret Spencer from her service record

The Little Colonel

Margaret Spencer was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Australian Women's Army Service. Nicknamed 'the Little Colonel', she was one of the best officers in her training school.

Alexander Macdonald, 1941. NAA: A9300, MACDONALD A

The Caterpillar Club

Thousands of WWII service people joined the Caterpillar Club: an exclusive organisation for people who had bailed out of an incapacitated aircraft.

Veale at his desk in Port Moresby during WWII. Image: Australian War Memorial

An engineer at war

William Veale served in two world wars and helped shape the city of Adelaide.

Hilda May Hillary, milliner, Western Australia, Voluntary Aid Detachment. NAA: B883, WFX17065

Girls on film

Photographs in the National Archives’ collection capture the faces of ordinary Australian women whose lives were about to change forever.