This year marks the centenary of World War One, 2014-2018. From an Australian perspective over the next two years a number of historic commemorative services will be held, the first in 1915 for the fateful landing at Gallipoli and the second for the Australian Imperial Forces move in 1916 to the Western Front in France. 2014 however marks the beginning of The Great War, the war that was to end all wars; if only it had.

The next four years will be a period of reflection for many of us, especially if like me you had a relative who served during the Great War. But these commemorative moments should also serve to highlight the other conflicts that our service men and women have been involved in, past and present. There are men and women currently defending the values of freedom at home and abroad, hundreds who have laid down their lives in more recent conflicts, who may be suffering from wounds both mental and physical and many more who having served their country who may be facing difficulties assimilating back into normal life.

The Australian War Memorial begins their commemorative program with an incredible project. The names of each of the 62,000 Australians who died in World War 1 will be emblazoned, one by one, onto the stones of the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial over the next four years.

The projection of each individual name will be visible along Anzac Avenue and across Lake Burley Griffin and descendants of the fallen will be advised as to the date that their fallen relative will be commemorated. Visitors wandering around the First World War Cloister at the memorial will also hear the voices of schoolchildren reciting the names and age of death of all 62,000 fallen Australians.

The two projects mentioned above, The Roll of Honour light projection and the soundscape will begin on August 4^th the date Great Britain and Australia declared war on Germany 100 years ago.

The Australian War memorials First World War galleries are also being modernised and the well-known dioramas which I first saw on a school excursion from Boomi when I was about ten years of age are also being updated.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be featuring some brilliant works, both fiction and non-fiction that have as their subject the Great War. I’ll also be presenting a brief video chat as an introduction to the series. Lest We Forget.