The Interior Bas Reliefs

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On the marble walls of the interior are bas relief panels depicting personnel from the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Army Medical Corps. Note that these are the descriptions of the subject matter of the bas reliefs as described in The Book of the Anzac Memorial (1934). Although Australia sent aviators to the Great War most served in the Australian Flying Corps, a branch of the Australian Imperial Force while others served in the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, part of the British Army and Navy. Australia did not have an independent Air Force as a branch service until 1921.

These panels depict men and a woman in uniform resting or mourning fallen comrades. Behind them march the souls of the departed, known as the March of the Dead.

On this day

3 June

1942 — Battle of MIDWAY began. This decisive victory by the US Navy over the Japanese Navy shifted the balance of sea power in the Pacific and forced Japan to abandon plans to attack New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa. Japanese losses were 4 aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser, 248 aircraft, and over 3,000 sailors. American losses were 1 aircraft carrier, 1 destroyer, 150 aircraft, and 307 men

1944 — 78 Squadron, RAAF, carried out the last major air combat by the RAAF in WW2, off BIAK Island, New Guinea. 10 enemy planes were shot down for the loss of one Australian plane and pilot

1969 — HMAS MELBOURNE collided with USS FRANK E EVANS in the South China Sea. EVANS was cut in half and 74 of her crew were killed