Paul Byrnes

In the First World War of 1914-1918, thousands of boys across Australia and New Zealand lied about their age, forged a parent's signature, and left to fight on the other side of the world. Though some were as young as thirteen, they soon found they could die as well as any man. Like Peter Pan's lost boys, they have remained...

In the Second World War, thousands of Australian boys lied about their age and volunteered for a war the scale of which they could never have imagined. Like many of their fathers in the Great War, they went with their eyes wide shut: under-trained, under-equipped, and under-age. Some were as young as thirteen—too young even to shave. Many did not...