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Handing over an arsenal
By Maj Tony Park

Volume 11, No. 61, March 08, 2007
 
Up-gunned: WO2 Stan Albert, Army History Unit, presents Nick Fletcher, Australian War Memorial, with some of the items included in the four trunk-loads of weaponry captured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Photo by LS Yuri Ramsey
SOVIET RPGs, Kalashnikovs and night vision sights are among a cache of weapons captured in Iraq and Afghanistan now housed in the Australian War Memorial.

Captured by Australian forces, the four trunks of weapons were delivered to the memorial by Army History Unit (AHU) Museums Liaison Officer WO2 Stan Albert.

Last year WO2 Albert was part of a team deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in search of weapons, artifacts and documents of interest.

“Our job is to get historical information on each weapon, such as where it was captured and the circumstances, and get serial numbers so that when they come back from the units they can be identified,” WO2 Albert said.

A key task of the AHU is the collection, preservation and presentation of the Army’s heritage.

While the War Memorial takes priority for artifacts collected, the AHU also looks for items for the 17 regional and corps museums it is responsible for around Australia.

The AHU’s Deployable History Field Team is also involved in identifying vehicles and other large pieces of equipment which will be handed over to museums once they reach the end of their service life.

“It is important that this work’s done – even though it might not seem a priority to deployed units at the time – otherwise we’ll lose our history,” WO2 Albert said.