In honour of ANZAC Day, Ancestry.com.au are making it even easier to discover the military heroes in your family. Until Sunday 29th April you can access over 46 million military records from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada and the United States for FREE.

We have giveaways … but before just handing them out, we know that EVERYONE has a family story, and we’d like to hear it. So tell us one of yours, but not just ANY story. Since it is Anzac Day next week, we’d like you to tell us about one of your military ancestors. To be in the running for a copy of “History & Genealogy 2011: Australia & New Zealand” as well as a CD copy of “From the Australian Front 1917” we ask that you visit our Facebook page …

The ANZAC Day Blog Challenge is on again. This is a great way to remember and honour our Australians and New Zealander military ancestory. You’re invited to write about your Anzac reli, in celebration of their life and in commemoration of their service.

Saluting Their Service Commemorative Grants worth close to $170,000, will fund 64 projects across Australia will commemorate Australia’s wartime history and honour those who served, and continue to serve, Australia in wars, conflicts and peace operations.

The interest in Australian military history and research continues to grow at an astonishing rate, and with it comes the availability more resources online. I kept coming across a number of smaller, but very useful and fascinating military websites, so I started to compile them into a list. So the 51 links listed here for Australian Military History and Research, is my list to far.

For a highlight this week we’ve chosen to highlight a book that has just been released, which tells the story of the men and women from Kapunda, South Australia who volunteered for the Australian Army in World War I. ‘Storm’ is very timely with Remembrance Day later this week.

On 19 February 1942 war came to Australia. Dubbed the ‘Pearl Harbour’ of Australia, Darwin was subjected to two raids by the Japanese within an hour of each other. Unlock the Past is teaming up with Clean Cruising, our travel/cruise partner, and Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours, to organise a War Comes to Australia: WWII Bombing of Darwin 70th Anniversary Tour in February 2012.

Published in 1943 during WWII, the ‘Australian Soldiers’ Pocket Book’ this pocket-sized, and designed to be carried everywhere, it provided Australian soldiers with a wide range of useful information. Arabic and Japanese words, first aid for gas injuries, signaling, conduct overseas …

It’s been a busy time recently for Unlock the Past, and their publications list continues to grow. This month we’ve already seen the release of three new titles added to the Unlock the Past range … Scottish, German and Australian military are all covered.

Can you imagine being able to see a photograph of a grave of a relative who died at war? Particularly when there is no chance of being able to visit the burial place. The aim of The War Graves Photographic Project is to photograph every war grave of serving military personnel from WWI to the present day and make these available within a searchable database. But now they’re asking for Australians to help out …

Highlights from our Military History & ANZAC range of books, maps, CDs & Scrapbooking. Remember our great heritage with these.

The “Anzac Day Blog Challenge” has been issued. This time, it is a joint challenge with our Digger mates from across the Ditch. Do you have an Australian or New Zealander in your family tree who was killed in military operations? We’d like to hear about not only their sacrifice, but the way their loss shaped their family history.

A treasure trove of photographs of Australian diggers taken during the First World War have been discovered in an attic in France, in a major find hailed as ”one of the most important discoveries from World War I” by military historians.