Author(s): Mike Colman

Military History

This is a classic collection of war stories from one of Australia's finest writers. Ray McMillan was an aircraftman on the Hudson bomber that sunk the 'Awazisan Maru' - an episode captured in Frank Harding's painting that adorns the cover of this book. Years later, author Mike Colman read the war diaries of 'Mr McMillan', his next-door neighbour, and discovered an extraordinary tale of heroism and survival that is the basis for Chapter 1. It is the first of 14 war stories - all true and featuring an extraordinary cast of characters - that capture Australia's war experience from Gallipoli to Vietnam in a way that has perhaps never been done before. 'No one is glorifying war, least of all people who have experienced it,' writes Keith Payne VC in his foreword. 'But it is still important to tell the human stories about those who have served, and those they left behind.'