FINDING YOUR FAMILY'S STORY OF SERVICE ... JUST ASK

Do you have a military ancestor in your family? Would you like to know more about their service to Australia? Retracing their footsteps might be easier than you think.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs is encouraging Australians to Just Ask questions within their families and make inquiries online to see if they have a lost family connection to one of the almost two million people who have served Australia in wars, conflicts and on peacekeeping operations over the past century.

With the 100th anniversary of Armistice being commemorated on 11 November 2018 and the Anzac Centenary drawing to a close, thousands of Australians have been motivated to delve a little deeper into their family histories and discover their heritage of service.

It's a simple as sitting down with a relative and asking them a few questions. Where and when they were born, who were their parents and grandparents, and where their family’s stories come from? Take notes or use a recording device to preserve the story and then you can go back to it later. Maybe they have some old memorabilia, such as a letter, a souvenir or a certificate.

Once you have some basic information, you can follow those leads by consulting online sources. The Department of Veteran's Affairs website lists some useful starting points.

If your relative was from the UK or New Zealand, you can search sites such as the UK National Archives and the NZ National Archives. As part of the launch of the Just Ask initiative, Ancestry.com is providing 100 hours’ free access to its database from 9–12 November 2018 for people to track their family story.