SIX FORMER VFL players who died on active service in Papua New Guinea during the Second World War will be honoured on Anzac Day.

The AFL PNG development team in Lae, Papua New Guinea, along with volunteer Anthony Healy, will visit the Lae War Cemetery to deliver birthdate pennis, flags and certificates to the graves of the fallen soldiers.

They will then visit Salamaua, where one of the many Second World War battles took place in PNG.

This year's ceremony follows the trip taken last year by AFL PNG staff and volunteers to Bomana War Cemetery, where they paid tribute to the fallen VFL players buried there.

The footballers to be honoured at Lae on Anzac Day 2023 are Norman LeBrun (South Melbourne, Essendon, Collingwood Carlton); Sydney Anderson (Melbourne); Norman Oliver (Collingwood); Jack Keddie (Essendon); Clyde Helmer (Geelong, Melbourne); and Leonard Thomas (South Melbourne, Hawthorn, North Melbourne).

Australian Football was introduced to PNG by Australian servicemen during the Second World War, with opposing armed service divisions playing games against one another in Lae, where the 2023 ceremony will be held.

VFL players to be honoured at Lae, Anzac Day 2023

Norman Stanley LeBrun
South Melbourne, Essendon, Collingwood, and Carlton
Died 15/11/1944, aged 34 years

Norman is one of the few players who has played for four AFL clubs. Norman was a commando and was the first Australian soldier to die in the Aitape-Wewak campaign.

Sydney Louis Anderson
Melbourne
Died 20/5/1944, aged 26 years

Sydney died when his bomber had to ditch after a bombing raid on Rabaul. He was a three-time Melbourne premiership player. The Melbourne Football Club’s Reserves Best and Fairest Award Is named in his honour.

Norman Leslie Oliver
Collingwood
Died 27/6/1944, aged 22 years

Killed in action when his plane crashed trying to land at Awar Airfield near Hansa Bay. He was just 22 years of age. He was flying a Boomerang A46-138 when he tried to land on an abandoned airfield between Madang and Wewak.

Jack Keddie
Essendon
Died 15/8/1945, aged 23 years

Jack was tragically killed in a boating accident near Wewak whilst he and other soldiers were celebrating the end of the war. His mother wrote In Memoriam 'My pal in heaven'.

Reginald Clyde Helmer
Geelong and Melbourne
Died 24/4/1945, aged 29 years

In 1938 Reg was Geelong’s leading goalkicker and over his short career he kicked a total of 140 goals. Reg was a bomb disposal expert. He was tragically killed whilst dismantling a Japanese mortar near Aitape during the Wewak campaign.

Leonard Thomas
South Melbourne, Hawthorn, North Melbourne
Died 17/8/1943, aged 35 years 

Len Thomas is a Swans legend. Twice best and fairest. Club captain and 1933 premiership star. Len epitomised everything good about our game. Len was a commando and was killed in action on the battlefields of Salamaua in August 1943.

Australian Footballers commemorated at Bomana 

William Nicholas Cosgrove
Richmond

Alfred Rowton Giblett
Hawthorn

Godfrey Robert Goldin
Essendon

Ross William Hudson
St Kilda

Stuart Patrick King
St Kilda

James Bell Knight
Geelong, Carlton

Ralph Charles Lancaster
Geelong

Maxwell George Carmichael
Port Adelaide

Christopher Isaac Johnston
Port Adelaide