It's a story that is at once personal and universal.
Former senior ACT public servant Greg Fraser has done some remarkable digging and produced a book that traces his family's involvement in 200 years of war-time service - from the Napoleonic wars to the Vietnam War.
For King and Country started as a family history project, tracing 10 relatives, through birth or marriage, who served or sought to serve their countries in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War, from 1793 to 1975.
Now retired, Mr Fraser, 76, of Lyneham, is well-known in Canberra as a past chief executive officer of ACT Health, director of environment and conservation in the ACT, management consultant and board chair.
His book is the result of more than 10 years' research.
It places the men in each conflict, telling the story of each war through their eyes.
Mr Fraser said it was the story of "good, honest, ordinary people".
"None were military geniuses or soldiers who merited awards for their gallantry. They did their duty and followed the orders of their commanders without challenge," he said.
The stories start with distant relative Swein McDonald, who in 1794 enlisted in a Scottish regiment of the British army to fight against the French and their allies in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
The book ends with John Hempenstall, Mr Fraser's brother-in-law, who joined the Australian army in 1969 and served in the Vietnam Wat from 1970 to 1971.
While all 10 men were exposed to peril during each conflict, remarkably, none were killed during what was a cumulative total of more than 40 years of active service.
Two of them were prisoners of war during World War II, David Fraser, a Scot, and Aleck Fraser, an Australian.
Mr Fraser believes all of the men were scarred by the experience of war, including his own father Colin, who fought the Japanese in Borneo during World War Two and served with the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces in Japan in the wake of the war.
Mr Fraser said his father returned to civilian life in Australia a damaged man, an alcoholic who eventually abandoned his family.
Back in those days, there was little understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder, let alone ways to address it.
Mr Fraser tracked down an account by his father of his war-time experiences. He had been haunted by trauma including having to shoot a Japanese soldier, coping with the fact he had almost accidentally shot a friend. and seeing mutilated bodies on Borneo.
Writing the book had helped Mr Fraser and his siblings to understand the actions of their father when at the time, they had seemed so cruel.
"I have no doubt our brave and dutiful ancestors paid a high price for their generous service to their king and country, haunted by the horrific memories and carrying this burden through to their death," he said
For King and Country was launched with the help of Australian National University history Professor Nicholas Brown, who said it reflected the experiences of countless families affected by war.
"It is impossible not to be deeply moved and challenged by this book," Professor Brown said.
"If it is the story of generations in the Fraser family, it is also the story of generations in a recent history so marked by the unimaginable scale of mass warfare, by what made it possible and what it bequeathed.
"It is a wise book, a questioning book, and a generous book. It has a heavy message, but it also has an uplifting intent."
- For King and Country is available to purchase by emailing forkingandcountry1948@gmail.com
