Upgrade to Australia's WWII Volunteer Defence Corps Categories

Question

Have made some upgrades to Australia's WWII Volunteer Defence Corps Categories.  The issue that was most confusing has been remedied: each of the 6 States had their own sequence of battalion numbers, hence there was a 1st Battalion in Queensland, another in New South Wales, another in Western Australia, etc and so on. The unit Categories are now identified as '1st Battalion (QLD), Volunteer Defence Corps, Australian Army, World War II', etc.  In addition, each Category now identifies the location where the battalion was based, e.g. 1st Battalion (NSW) was based in and around Lismore, in NSW's north. This ought to help with locating where family connections lived during the war. If you think of further ways to improve the VDC Categories, please let me know or go ahead and make them happen. Enjoy.

Oh, by the way, if your connection served three years or more in the VDC, they would or should have been awarded the Australia Service Medal 1939-1945, for which there is a Category. And, please, do not call them ANZACs. They were Aussie soldiers or Diggers, but not even close to being an ANZAC. That term is reserved for those who served in designated Australian and New Zealand Army Corps formations.

Comments

The easiest and most accurate way of determining which State your connection served within the VDC is by the letter preceding the numerals of each soldier's regimental number, e.g., if it is an 'S' then he served in a South Australian battalion.

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Thanks Ken, I had been confused by the change of categories. I appreciate the note about first letters. My maternal grandfather never left South Australia. I was confused by the VDC category change to New South Wales. I will aim to correct the category EditBot gave him.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jones-60695

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Editbot only does what the person doing the rename directs it to do. Editbot put him in that category because that's what it was asked to do.

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Steve, you only need to change the '(NSW)' to '(SA)' to place him in the correct Category.  This only happened to profiles whose privacy wouldn't allow me to do it myself.

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Thanks Margaret and Ken.
I wasn't sure what was happening and wanted to find out before changing the category name myself. That it why I was so pleased with Ken's explanation that the 'S' in the regimental number confirms that my grandfather was registered in South Australia.
I have changed 'NSW' to 'SA', and changed the Privacy setting to Public.

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Hi Ken, what's happening with the profiles still in the old categories, where the category is added via the unit= parameter of the World War II sticker? Editbot cannot change the category on the profile in that circumstance, they need to be changed manually.

There are about 50 profiles still in the old categories, waiting for manual changing of the category. How are these profiles going to be moved from the old categories that are waiting to be deleted?

Answer 1

Military history is not my area of specialty or particular interest. But where an Australian has served I would like to acknowledge that service correctly. Currently if a person has served in WW1 or 2 in the army, navy or air force I put an ANZAC sticker on their profile. I like the sticker it looks good and it’s nice and easy. However, I realise it might not always be correct. Is there a higher level sticker I can add that acknowledges their service? I get confused with battalions and units and reinforcements especially when they change during their service.

Comments

Hi Kathy, there is a Veteran Recognition sticker, which is relatively easy (in comparison to the war stickers) as it doesn't involve categories. There are some examples with Army, Navy and Air force on the Project page of military stickers.

If you'd like any help with any of your profiles, you're more than welcome to ask in the Australia project google group or on Discord.

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Thank you that is helpful.

Answer 2

Thank you Kenneth for this category and the information and for including the link to a profile. I have just been working on a profile for a man who served with the 26th Battalion (NSW) Volunteer Defence Corps. You explanation made it very easy for me to add the category to his profile. I have copied and pasted the sticker that you have included on the profile for Leslie Sheldrick, making the changes for 26th Battalion.

I looked at the Military and War Categories and Stickers: Examples for Australian Profiles, but could not see the sticker included there.  Would if be possible for this sticker to be displayed on that page.

Thanks for your help, Diane

Comments

Hi Diane, that's the Veteran Recognition sticker. There are some examples of it on that page you mentioned, but I'll get one on there for the Volunteer Defence Corps.

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Thanks, Margaret. Haven't got that far.

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Thanks Margaret

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@Ken, no problem, you wouldn't have been able to add the example, the page Diane mentions is green locked.

Answer 3

Thanks Kenneth

I have avoided putting stickers on a few of these lately because the ones I wasn't sure what was appropriate, however will use this going forward