Roll call: how Australia broke the promise of remembrance

Ten years ago this month, John Howard's Minister for Veteran Affairs, Danna Vale, launched a searchable internet database known as the World War 2 Nominal Roll. It was intended to be a virtual war memorial, listing all Australians who served in World War II as one of the ways to honour the nation’s annual ANZAC Day pledges 'Lest we forget' and 'We will remember them'. While the database now correctly carries details of many of the 1 million Australians who served in the Army, Navy and Air Force, it also includes wrong details of thousands of others and – worse still – completely omits thousands more. This means that it has practically become pot-luck whether a young person today, searching online for grandma or grandad's war record, turns up the correct details or finds anything at all.