In the month of June we commemorate the following events:
28 June 1919: Treaty of Versailles
More than seven months after the Armistice came into effect the Great War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
6 June 1944: ‘D-Day’
The Allied invasion of France on June 6 1944 was the largest single amphibious operation in the history of mankind. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen would be involved in the fighting on this day alone. Australian forces were largely involved in the Pacific theatre by this time but RAAF forces attached to the RAF played crucial roles in pre-landing bombings and in providing fighter cover for the landing forces.
25 June 1950: Outbreak of the Korean War
The ‘Forgotten War’ breaks out when North Korean forces launch a surprise attack on South Korean and US forces. In the three years of fighting to follow 17,000 Australians in the Army, Navy and Air Force would serve with the United Nations forces defending South Korea, 340 would lose their lives and thousands more would serve in peacekeeping forces as late as 1957.
May - Jun 1968: Battle of Coral-Balmoral
The largest, most sustained and arguably most hazardous battles fought by Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War. Units of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) confronted regimental-sized formations of the North Vietnamese regular army in fierce actions around Fire Support Patrol Bases (FSPB) Coral and Balmoral in what was then known as Bien Hoa province.