George Odgers George James Odgers was an Australian soldier , journalist and military historian . He was born in 1916 and died in 2008 . After university , Odgers served in the Australian Army as a private soldier and non - commissioned officer ; and later in the Royal Australian Air Force becoming a Group Captain . He was one of the authors of the official history of Australia in World War II , " Australia in the War of 1939 – 1945 " . Early years . Odgers was born in Perth , Western Australia on 29 March 1916 . He was the youngest of eight children and the first of his parents ' children to be born in a hospital . The family struggled financially through the Great Depression , but Odgers was able to attend Perth Boys High School and later worked his way through the University of Western Australia and University of Melbourne where he completed a master of arts . After completing university Odgers started working at the " Melbourne Argus " in 1940 . He left the newspaper to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) later that year . After completing some air crew training he was ruled out of flying duties on medical grounds and instead joined the Army ' s Australian Imperial Force . As a member of the Army he served in the New Guinea and Borneo Campaign s , reaching the rank of sergeant . Following the war Odgers was successful in joining the RAAF and spent time with Australian forces during the Korean War , Malayan Emergency and Vietnam War , eventually rising to the rank of Group Captain . During his time in the Air Force he was a member of the RAAF War History Section . Military historian and journalist . Shortly after the end of the war Gavin Long selected George Odgers to be one of the authors of the air series of " Australia in the War of 1939 – 1945 " , starting his career as a military historian . Odgers ' first book was a history of No . 77 Squadron RAAF in the Korean War entitled " Across the Parallel " which was published in 1952 . His volume of the official history , " Air War Against Japan 1943 – 1945 " , was published in 1957 and covered the RAAF ' s operations in the Pacific War from 1943 onwards . The official history was followed by " The Royal Australian Air Force " ( 1965 ) , " The Golden Years " ( 1971 ) and " Mission Vietnam " ( 1974 ) . All of these works were guided by his experiences in the RAAF and successfully appealed to a popular audience " without sacrificing either detail or rigour " . Odgers worked as a defence journalist in parallel with his career as a military historian . After the " Argus " closed in 1956 he was hired by the fledging television station GTV - 9 and worked in its news production team . He moved to " The Age " in 1960 as a special writer focusing on defence issues . Odgers married Elizabeth Garrod in 1954 and the couple had two children . In 1965 Odgers became the head of public relations for the Department of Air and subsequently the RAAF . He held this position until 1975 when he became Director of Historical Studies and Information in the Department of Defence . George Odgers retired from the Department of Defence in 1981 but continued working as a historian . He published illustrated histories of the Royal Australian Navy , Air Force and Army in 1982 , 1984 and 1988 respectively . His two volume history of Australia ' s involvement in 11 wars , " Diggers " , was published in 1994 . His last work was a biography of Wing Commander Dick Cresswell , " Mr Double Seven " , which found a publisher shortly before his death in early 2008 at the age of 91 . Odgers was the last living member of the 14 historians who wrote " Australia in the War of 1939 – 1945 " and was survived by two of his siblings , his wife and sons and their five grandchildren .