His talk ranged over relationships between WWI Diggers and the girls they left behind and the young women they later met in Europe, airmen in training in Canada early in WWII, the impact of the GI "invasion" of Australia from 1942 to 1945, and the experiences of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan 1945-52.
Although Greg's talk emphasised the breadth of the topic, he encouraged members to look in depth at some of the rich resources in the NAA. These include
- the experiences of Mrs W Clayton who arrived in Hobart from England in 1919 to find her husband "missing' and (apparently) married to someone else
- the arrival in Sydney aboard the Marine Phoenix in March 1948 of migrant families made up of US ex-servicemen and their Australian brides (and children) returning after initially leaving to live in the USA
- the challenges faced by Sachiko (known as Marie) McKay who wished to become an Australian citizen in 1963 after following her husband home in 1953.