At the start of World War I, Australia was a nation of around four million people. This meant that there was a potential pool of around 820,000 men of 'fighting age' (between 19 and 38). Official recruitment for the Australian Expeditionary Force commenced in August 1914.
Each man of 'military age' (19 to 38 years old) had to decide whether to join the armed forces and go to war. It was an important decision that affected most families in Australia. Recruiting offices opened at army barracks around Australia on 10 August 1914, only 6 days after the war began.
In World War I, a large number of young boys joined up to serve as soldiers before they were eighteen, the legal age to serve in the army. It was previously reported that the youngest British soldier was an unnamed boy, also twelve, sent home from France in 1917 with other underage boys from various regiments.
The youngest known soldier of World War I was Momčilo Gavrić, who joined the 6th Artillery Division of the Serbian Army at the age of 8, after Austro-Hungarian troops in August 1914 killed his parents, grandmother, and seven of his siblings.
You can join the ADF at 17, but start your application earlier if you wish. There are no gender restrictions in the Navy, Army or Air Force.
Momčilo Gavrić (Serbian Cyrillic: Момчило Гаврић; 1 May 1906 – 28 April 1993) was the youngest Serbian soldier, he became a soldier at the age of eight. Momčilo Gavrić in Loznica, 1914.
Calvin Leon Graham (April 3, 1930 – November 6, 1992) was the youngest U.S. serviceman to serve and fight during World War II. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the United States Navy from Houston, Texas on August 15, 1942, at the age of 12.
Colin's dad, Sidney Lewis, was just 12 years old when he ran away from home to join the army. In 1916, his life changed forever when he was sent to fight on the frontline at the Battle of the Somme. This is his incredible story.
Although boys aged 14-17 could enlist as buglers, trumpeters and musicians, many gave false ages in order to join as soldiers. Their numbers are impossible to determine. Enlistment of boys was normal practice for the Navy and several died on service during the First World War.
Technically the boys had to be 19 to fight but the law did not prevent 14-year-olds and upwards from joining in droves. They responded to the Army's desperate need for troops and recruiting sergeants were often less than scrupulous.
By the time battle ended, 18,000 'boy soldiers' had been killed or wounded. The youngest 'boy soldier' was a boy called Sidney Lewis.
Of all the initial belligerent nations, only Great Britain had a volunteer army, and this was quite small at the start of the war.
World War I was a global conflict that took place between 1914 and 1918. Also known as the Great War or First World War, it was fought mainly in Europe, but it also spread to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Most of the war was fought using artillery (large weapons such as cannons), machine guns, and rifles.
On 28 June 1915, young James Martin sailed from Melbourne aboard the troopship Berrima - bound, ultimately, for Gallipoli. He was just fourteen years old. "Soldier Boy" is Jim's extraordinary true story, the story of a young and enthusiastic school boy who became Australia's youngest known Anzac.
James Charles Martin (3 January 1901 – 25 October 1915) was the youngest Australian known to have died in World War I. He was only 14 years and nine months old when he succumbed to typhoid during the Gallipoli campaign.
Troops were paid a minimum of six shillings a day (more than three times the wage of English forces) leading to the phrase 'six bob a day tourists'. Although slightly below the basic wage, it was still attractive to many because of the tough financial conditions and high unemployment in 1914.
The Roll of Honour records the number of Australian deaths during the First World War as 61,514. This includes deaths until the formal disbandment of the AIF on 31 March 1921. During the period 4 August 1914 to 11 November 1918, there were 59,357 deaths.
On the 18th June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, who was the heir to the throne for the Austria-Hungarian empire. He was shot by a Serbian man, who believed that Serbia should have control over Bosnia, not Austria. As a result, Austra-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
Navy Veteran Calvin Leon Graham became the youngest World War II soldier at the age of 12, and the youngest recipient of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. During World War II, it was not unusual for American boys to lie about their age in order to enlist.
The youngest hero of the French Resistance was just six years old - and finally the name Marcel Pinte has been inscribed on a memorial alongside those of other anti-Nazi fighters.
The First World War
Despite more than 4 million soldiers being mobilized, and more than 65,000 being killed in the short amount of time, the fact that the war ended more than 100 years ago makes it impossible that someone called up to fight could be alive today.
America and the world went through a transformative period in the 1960s and 1970s. Pells points out that many of the people causing the changes were actually members of the War Baby generation (born between 1939 and 1945).
Tom 'Diver' Derrick VC DCM was Australia's most famous fighting soldier of World War II. Derrick fought in five campaigns, won the highest medals for bravery, and died of wounds sustained while leading his men in the war's last stages.
Jean Thurel finally died in 1807, following a short illness. He was 108. After nine full decades as a soldier, he remained a private throughout, never dropping off the regiment's active duty list.