{"id":27,"date":"2007-11-10T17:22:20","date_gmt":"2007-11-10T06:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.wordpress.com\/about\/history\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T20:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:26:08","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?page_id=27","title":{"rendered":"John Laffin"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 align=\"center\"><\/h2>\n<h2 align=\"center\">\u00a0<a title=\"John Laffin\u00a01922-2000\" href=\"http:\/\/fffaif.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/02\/john-laffin_-portrait_website.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fffaif.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/02\/john-laffin_-portrait_website.jpg\" alt=\"John Laffin\u00a01922-2000\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Australian\u00a0John Laffin was one of the world&#8217;s most distinguished military historians. Both of John&#8217;s parents served with the Australian Imperial Force during WW1. His father was an infantry officer, and his mother a nursing sister. John was born in 1922 and grew up in a house where much of the adult conversations concerned memories of the war. From an early age the deeds of the Diggers were instilled in him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In WW2 John served for five years in the second AIF and was a veteran of the\u00a0New Guinea\u00a0campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Many Australians with an interest in World War I will be familiar with the writings of the late John Laffin. Author of such books as<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Digger,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Damn the Dardanelles,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Western Front 1916-17 and 1917-18,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">British Butchers &amp; Bunglers of W.W.I,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Digging up the Diggers War,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We Will Remember Them<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Guide to the Australian Battlefields of the Western Front 1916-1918 <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>On the Western Front: Soldiers&#8217; Stories 1914-1918<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>World War 1 in Postcards<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Anzacs at War<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0 0 0 18pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>The Australian Army at War 1899-1975<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">John earned a reputation both in Australia and overseas for his commitment to honouring the memory of those who served in the AIF. It is impossible to read his books without feeling a sense of great pride, and humbled by the great sacrifice of our Diggers. <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Together with wife Hazelle, who was his constant companion, John spent many years following the historic steps of the Diggers on the Western Front. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; margin: 0;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Remembrance was part of John&#8217;s everyday life.\u00a0It took 37 years of campaigning before his concept of an Australian Battlefield Memorial Park in Le Hamel was finally implemented.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fffaif.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/02\/john-laffin_hamel_website.jpg\" alt=\"John Laffin Le Hamel 4 July\u00a01998\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was on Hamel Day, 4 July 1998, the day of the inauguration of the Australian Corps Memorial Park that John decided to found the <em>FFFAIF. <\/em>John saw the association as &#8220;the best he had ever done for the Diggers&#8221;.\u00a0 Before his untimely death in 2000, John Laffin commenced the first steps in forming an association that would be open to the &#8220;families and friends of the First AIF&#8221;. The <em>FFFAIF<\/em> was incorporated in 2002.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>John Laffin is honoured through the John Laffin Memorial History Prize and the John Laffin Memorial Lecture series. Click here for details of these.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"John Laffin Travel Scholarship Prize\" href=\"http:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?page_id=19\">John Laffin Memorial History Prize<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"John Laffin Travel Scholarship Prize\" href=\"http:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?page_id=14947\">John Laffin Memorial History Scholarships<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?page_id=124\">The John Laffin Travel Scholarship Prize winners<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"John Laffin Memorial Lectures\" href=\"http:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?page_id=126\">John Laffin Memorial Lecture series<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Australian\u00a0John Laffin was one of the world&#8217;s most distinguished military historians. Both of John&#8217;s parents served with the Australian Imperial Force during WW1. His father was an infantry officer, and his mother a nursing sister. John was born in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?page_id=27\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":8669,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-27","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15767,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27\/revisions\/15767"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}