Japanese soldier's personal dirk : Private A E Butters, 2/40 Battalion, Sparrow Force

Short forged blade with pair of fullers, one short and one long. The long fuller runs into the shoulder of the handle, possibly indicating a shortened blade. A star marking (probably indicating military inspection and acceptance) has been stamped into the upper part of the blade near the handle. Furnished with a round wooden handle, bound at neck with a rivetted brass collar, and with a brass cap at the end. Supplied with a handmade brown leather scabbard, the seam sewn with string, which encloses the blade up to the forward portion of the handle. The blade has suffered corrosion damage.

Short bladed personal dirk with replacement handmade scabbard, removed from the body of a dead Japanese soldier by TX4772 Private Arthur Ernest Butter who was serving with 2/40 Battalion in Sparrow Force, in Timor in 1942. Butters, born Hobart, Tasmania on 18 June 1917, enlisted at Moonah on 2 July 1941. During his time on Timor, Butters was photographed by Damien Parer - see AWM photo 013798 - on 9 December 1942, just after Parer had visited the Buna battlefield.