Sixty-eight years ago, on 15 August 1945, hostilities with Japan officially ended at 12 noon. When His Royal Highness Duke of Gloucester made the announcement in Canberra, three flags were flown. They were the flag raised by Australian troops at Villiers Bretonneux in the First World War, the flag worn by HMAS SYDNEY when she sank the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, and the flag which was flying on Government House, Darwin, when the Japanese attacked the port in February 1942. Commodore J. A. Collins signalled the Royal Australian Navy: ‘I wish to congratulate every officer and man of His Majesty’s Australian Squadron on his share in our final victory announced by the Prime Minister of Great Britain this morning. I rejoice with you that the Japanese have been forced to surrender. We have every reason to be proud of the part played by the RAN during six years of war across the seas of the world, and I say again to all hands ‘Well done’. Let us always remember with sad pride our lost ships and their companies and thank God that their sacrifice was not in vain’.
As a Journal dedicated to military and veteran’s health, we need to constantly remember the sacrifices made by our veterans; the health lessons learned from the various conflicts, both recent and historical, and the new techniques, methods and research that can make us better practitioners in this field. While our submissions have picked up, we always are looking for more good military and veterans’ health articles. As we move towards full Open Access, authors may like to consider the wider exposure that publication will bring to their articles, particularly as publication is peer-reviewed and without any authors fees or other costs. We are also interested in operational articles, highlighting the issues and lessons learned in the field, which we will put through an accelerated peer review process.
In this issue, we have a range of excellent articles, including original articles on prostate cancer knowledge in the ADF and attitudes to the Medical Employment Classification Review. We also have review articles on terrorism and nurse practitioner roles on Exercise, and two historical articles on military health care in the First World War, including the life of Dr Phoebe Chapple, as an Australian Doctor on the Western Front.
As we move through 2013, we have further themed issues and ask prospective authors to consider whether they may have suitable articles for these themed issues. In particular, we are very keen to get articles for our special 100th World War One issue in April 2014. Other military and veterans’ health articles are always very welcome and we would encourage all our readers to consider writing on their areas of military or veterans’ health interest.
Dr Andy Robertson, CSC, PSM
Editor-in-Chief
