Gavin Long Gavin Merrick Long OBE ( 31 May 1901 – 10 October 1968 ) was an Australian journalist and military historian . He was the general editor of the official history series " Australia in the War of 1939 – 1945 " and the author of three of its 22 volumes . Gavin Long was born in Foster , Victoria , the eldest of six children of George Merrick Long , a clergyman . He was educated at Trinity Grammar School where his father was headmaster , and All Saints College , Bathurst . He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney in 1922 and worked as a teacher in 1922 and 1923 . After working as a jackeroo in 1924 Long travelled to England in 1925 so that he could marry Mary Jocelyn Britten . During his time in England he worked at Australia House and was married on 5 September 1925 . Two weeks after their marriage Long and his wife returned to Australia . Journalist . After his return to Australia , Long worked as a journalist and moved between several newspapers . In 1930 he was made a senior reporter at the Melbourne " Argus " but was later reduced in rank due to the impact of the Great Depression on the paper . He was appointed a sub - editor at the Sydney Morning Herald in July 1931 and held this job until he was posted to the Herald ' s London office in 1938 . After the outbreak of World War II , Long was a correspondent to the British Expeditionary Force in France and was evacuated from Boulogne in May 1940 . In November 1940 , he was sent to Egypt where he reported on the Australian 6th Division during its campaigns in North Africa and Greece . Long was recalled to Australia in mid - 1941 where he continued writing on defence matters . Military historian . In March 1943 Gavin Long was appointed general editor of the " Australia in the War of 1939 – 1945 " , a 22 - volume official history of Australia ' s involvement in World War II , on the recommendation of C . E . W . Bean , the editor of the " Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918 " . Based at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra , he spent the remainder of the war planning the series and visiting forward areas to interview members of the Australian military . After the war Long played a key role in the official history project . As well as providing guidance to the other authors , he wrote three of the volumes in the series ( " To Benghazi " ( published 1952 ) , " Greece , Crete and Syria " ( 1953 ) and " The Final Campaigns " ( 1963 ) . He retired as general editor in 1963 as the project was nearing completion and he did not believe that a full - time editor was required . Long ' s books were well received by reviewers and his close involvement with the other authors gave the series a unity of purpose and method . Long was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1953 for his services as editor of the official history . In 1956 he was awarded the Greek Gold Cross of the Royal Order of the Phoenix . Gavin Long continued to write after his retirement from the official history project . He was a research fellow with the Australian Dictionary of Biography , was part of the team which produced the Australian Government ' s " Style Guide " and contributed over 90 articles to The Canberra Times . He also wrote two further military history books , " MacArthur as Military Commander " ( published in 1969 ) and " The Six Years War " ( 1973 ) , which was a concise summary of Australia ' s involvement in World War II . " The Six Years War " was written well before it was published but its publication was delayed while the final volumes in the official history series were completed . Gavin Long died of lung cancer on 10 October 1968 at his home in Deakin , ACT and was cremated .