Ian Burrett is a retired Vietnam veteran. His NSW car number plates read ‘LESTWF’. Ian’s mother was born on 11 November 1915. When his father 568 Lt Col Athol Frederick Burrett DSO MID, was fighting at Gallipoli. Athol was one of less than 300 of the 12000 original Anzac’s to be still fighting when WWI ended. He commanded the 3rd Battalion at its last battle.

A photo of Athol Burrett (on left) appears on the book cover.

Ian spent over 1500 hours producing over 500 pages of research which led to a plaque naming an additional 762 Lithgow NSW WWI heroes being unveiled on 11 November 2018. Of these 72 had died and were not named on the original Lithgow cenotaph. A plaque naming a further 108 WWI heroes was unveiled at Ian’s home town of Portland NSW the same day.

The research was a steep learning curve and many problems were encountered with local and national authorities. His book is a result of what he has learnt. It is written in layman’s terms and is published in the hope that it can be helpful to others and our returned veterans get the long overdue recognition they so rightly deserve.

Ian conducted his own real estate agency on the Central Coast of NSW for over 20 years. Prior to that he was one of Australia’s leading authorities assisting accountants in public practice install company controlled superannuation funds for their corporate clients. His formative years were in Goulburn NSW where he was heavily into sport. He played a side drum in scout and cadet bands on Anzac Day marches. Prior to retirement he worked in the security industry. He has been the treasurer of the Portland NSW RSL sub-Branch for the past 8 years.

Now single, Ian was married twice. He has two children from his first marriage, Lisa a solicitor born in 1973 and Brett a doctor born in 1979.