"I’ve recently inherited a collection of old family photographs...I wonder if there’s a chance your staff may be able to track down their descendants and pass on this photo to them?"
Online Cenotaph and Documentary Heritage staff often receive enquiries like the one above asking for help in identifying service men and women in historical photographs.
Combining a keen eye and solid research skills we sometimes find success, but more often than not we can't definitively name all of those pictured. This is where the public can help us make connections to the past and enrich our historical knowledge. Below is a small selection of images with unidentified service men and women from the World Wars. If you recognise anyone pictured below please let us know by contacting Online Cenotaph staff here.
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Group portrait of Catherine Amelia Williams 22/513 (standing far right) with a group of unidentified soldiers.
© Image has no known copyright restrictions. Image provided by the family.
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Unknown, photographer [ca. Sept. 1944]. [New Zealand soldiers] St Peters, Rome. Photograph is attached to photocopied page, handwritten above print "They said we could go to Rome to see the Pope so we went... It must've been just after Florence/ They sent a party down, you know, a truckload...It was a brigade arrangement. [Sep 1944]". Auckland War Memorial Museum - Tāmaki Paenga Hira - Rangi Mawhete Collection - PH-1996-1-9-001.
© Copyright undetermined – untraced rights owner.
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Group Photograph of New Zealand soldiers portraying prisoners of war in camp in New Zealand, including Henry John (Jack) Furness in the middle. Other servicemen are unidentified.
© Image has no known copyright restrictions. Image kindly provided by Murray Furness (February 2018).
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Photograph of 10 soldiers "picnicing" without equipment and some in bare feet dated 4/10/1918. The central reclining figure (without hat) is possibly Sergeant Major Roy Lindsay Harding (25409). While the only standing soldier is possibly John Samuel Gibbons (70467). Other groups of soldiers in the back ground also picnicing. From the collection of Henry William Insley (23705).
© No known copyright restrictions. Image provided by Passau family.
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Soldiers hamming it up for the camera in front of their barracks. From the collection of Henry William Insley (23705).
© No known copyright restrictions. Image provided by Passau family.
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Team photo of Japanese Steelworkers and the New Zealand Army Headquarters rugby team. Taken in Japan 1954 during the Korean War. Rugby insignia states that they are from the New Zealand Base HQ 1954-? Three servicemen are in uniform. Image provided by family of Japanese player. Note this image is not found online as we have yet to identify any of the servicemen.
© No known copyright restrictions
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Collection of photos from Paul Reginald Henry Clarke (s/n 9/22). Photo of men, both in uniform and civilian dress, posing on steps in an alleyway.
© Image has no known copyright restrictions. Image kindly provided by family.