The Mulwaree High School Remembrance Museum is rectifying this with a special exhibition, detailing the lives of Goulburn and district men and women who served in all theatres of war.

Titled Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories, the exhibition reveals little known aspects of their service.

Like father and son, Frank and Keith Sharp. Frank had seen action at Gallipoli during World War One. He was later promoted to Lieutenant and served in France from June, 2016 to September, 2018.

He signed up again in World War Two and served in the 9^th Division's 2/3 Anti-tank regiment with his son. They were both taken prisoner at Mechili in the Libyan Desert and eventually transferred to prison camps in Italy.

But when German troops took control of the camp during Italy's capitulation in 1943, the Sharps made a daring escape. Prisoners had been piled into trucks and then cattle wagons bound for Germany. The Sharps found rotten boards beneath the manure and escaped to Trento.

They had help from the Italians in their journey to the Swiss Alps but endured "howling blizzards," treacherous crossings and nausea, all under the threat of recapture.

Eventually they reached Switzerland and were repatriated to England.

Keith Sharp's diary, an article on the escape and photos are among the items displayed in the exhibition.

Museum volunteer, Leone Morgan, said most of the men and women featured were 'ordinary folk' doing what they saw as their war-time duty

"However, in the circumstances of war some people often go 'above and beyond' what they might do in so-called 'normal' times," she said

"For some who survived the horrors of war, they went on to experience the 'extraordinary' in civilian life. Not all the stories have a happy ever after' but all should be told and shared beyond the family circle."

Brian Keating was a case in point. In January, 1945, the flight officer was wounded in the neck during a German aircraft attack. His air bomber had been tasked to strike a German railway siding. Keating carried on and didn't mention his injury until well clear of the target.

He went on to become a longtime Goulburn dentist, prominent community member and a strong advocate for state aid to Catholic schools.

Raymond Leslie Stalker had his leg partially amputated after suffering injury at Fromelles as part of the 55^th battalion during World War One.

After the war he became a Goulburn bootmaker and designed his own prosthetic limb. Stalker made the invention and its rights freely available to allied troops during WWII and to the Australian Repatriation Commission. New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, the USSR and Canada were among the countries that benefited from the Australian manufactured device, a news article stated.

Stalker was a Goulburn City councillor during the 1930s, according to Ms Morgan's research. Stalker Street was named after him.

Others featured in the exhibition include Frank Chattaway, Norm Goldsborough, Dr Alan Hazelton, Ruben Hillier, Eric Rink, Major Paul Cullen, William Leggett, Wally Buckland, who undertook two tours of duty in Vietnam, John Evatt D'Acre, Ms Morgan's uncle, David MacNab Thomson, Albert Barnes and Frank Lindsay Willis, from Crookwell.

Women aren't forgotten. WW1 nurses Alice Joan Twynam and Catherine Tully are acknowledged for their work. Alice Chisholm also receives due recognition for her establishment of soldiers' canteens during the First World War.

Ms Morgan said she and Museum volunteer, Rod MacLean spent many months undertaking research.

Families have also donated items, including photos, uniforms, medals, diaries, articles and more.

"The extraordinary stories revealed were not always worthy of bravery medals or citations, but they do give a different perspective of individuals," Ms Morgan said,

The exhibition is open and runs all year, along with another on the 80^th anniversary of D-day.

The Museum is open every Sunday 2pm to 4pm or by appointment by phoning 4821 2587. It will also be open on Anzac Day from 12 to 4pm.

The Museum is located at 40 McDermott Drive, Goulburn.