"AN act of serendipity" is how television newsreader Jane Doyle described the sequence of events that lead her to interviewing one of SA's most interesting and decorated families at a Rural Media luncheon at the Adelaide Showground on Wednesday.
Guest speaker Ross Coulthart was teed up for the Anzac Day-inspired lunch, with the Gold Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist primed to talk about his book The Lost Diggers.
The book features more than 330 glass plate photographs of Aussie diggers taken by French husband and wife team Louis and Antoinette Thuillier in the French town of Vignacourt, on the Somme, during the First World War.
Vignacourt, two hours north of Paris, was a place of respite for thousands of Aussie diggers and other Allied troops.
For many, this was their last moment away from the lines before being sent to their deaths in battles that are now a major part of Australian and war history.
The photographs were hidden for nearly a century, until Mr Coulthart made one of the "most important First World War discoveries ever made".
He and a couple of colleagues unearthed about 4000 glass plate photographs in a metal chest in a dusty attic in a French farmhouse in 2011, after a two-year journey of false leads, disappointments and obstacles.
The Thuillier Collection was acquired by media magnate Kerry Stokes, who donated many of the plates to the Australian War Memorial.
It was with curators of the AWM that Mr Coulthart compiled The Lost Diggers, which features some of the photographs, details of how they were found, and the stories of some of the soldiers and their families.
Not all of the WWI Australian and Allied soldiers or their families have been identified, and Mr Coulthart has spent the past three years, with the AWM, trying to fill the gaps.
At the time of the lunch, the family of Frank Aitchison from Adelaide was the only SA family to have been positively connected with an image from the Thuillier Collection.
Frank's 89-year-old WWII RAN veteran son Sam attended the lunch with wife Jeannette, keen to hear the story of how the photos were found by Mr Coulthart.
But it was Sam who became the guest speaker, after torrential rain and thunderstorms on Wednesday meant Mr Coulthart's flight was grounded in Sydney.
In Mr Coulthart's absence, Mrs Doyle stepped in to interview Sam about his father, family, his own war experiences and how they came to recognise one of the glass plate photos.
"We were watching the news about five years ago and the story of the glass plates came up and my eagle-eyed wife said 'there's your dad' - it was very overwhelming," Mr Aitchison said.
"She always had a good memory for faces. But we also saw his 32nd battalion patch, which was instantly recognisable."
Frank Aitchison was a book binder and wasn't able to enlist in 1914 because he was only 5-foot 5-inches - under the height requirement for service.
But by 1915, more Australia troops were needed so they reduced the height requirements, and Frank's father allowed him to go.
The 20-year-old was off to Egypt with mates Victor Simon and Bill Irving.
"They were so keen to make their commitment to the British Empire," Sam said.
By June 1916 the boys were dispatched to Fromelles, France.
They had only been at the Front for three days before they were sent "over the top".
Frank's friends Vic and Bill were killed instantly in one of the worst nightly death tolls of the war - 715 casualties.
Frank was lucky to only be wounded in the buttock by shrapnel, and was sent to Scotland for recovery.
Sam said his father rarely spoke about the war, but one thing he did notice was that his father could fall asleep standing up.
"My father said when he was at Fromelles, the mud was so thick that if you couldn't sleep standing, you could drown," Sam said.
Frank's experiences as a signaller in WWI didn't deter Sam, who enlisted for WWII at 17-years-old.
Sam initially was enlisted to the navy, but "got roped into" becoming a commando for the army for four years.
There were 168 enlisted in Sam's "secret service" group, with only three still alive today.
These are just some of the stories in The Lost Diggers book, along with the riveting detective story of Mr Coulthart's hunt across northern France for a rumoured treasure trove of antique glass photographic plates in ancient metal chests in a dusty attic in a small farmhouse.
Hundreds of the glass plate photographs retrieved are now on display on the Australian War Memorial website.
The purpose of Mr Coulthart's trip was to also help raise awareness of many of the unidentified soldiers and their families, including many from SA.
Some of the names found include Bobridge, Miller, Hewitt, Mace, Hodgens, Murray and Stuart.
Since the lunch, some of the families have come forward, but many are still unknown.
If you recognise a relative among the photos the AWM have details on their website to make contact.
* Details: www.awm.gov.au/collection/photographs/vignacourt/