Coins for Two Up set : Private M G Heuston, 2/12 Commando Squadron, AIF

Coins for Two Up set used by NX203594 Private Milton George Heuston, 2/12 Commando Squadron. There are 57 British and Australian One Penny coins, divided as follows: 16 Queen Victoria (5 'Very Young Queen', 6 'Young Queen' and 5 'Veiled or Old Queen'); 11 King Edward VII ('Baldie'); 21 King George V (British) and 4 King George V (Australian); 5 George VI. All the coins have been highly polished on the 'head' side, while the 'tail' sides are heavily tarnished and blackened. In many cases, the heads of the coins have been so heavily polished that little detail remains, and on some examples, none whatsoever.

Milton George Heuston was born at Narrabri, NSW, in 1925. He enlisted in the AIF in April 1944, aged 18, and joined 2/12 Commando Squadron at Bathurst. After training at Canungra, the unit was engaged in the recapture of British Borneo, principally in clearing the island of Labuan. While still in Australia, Heuston had purchased, from an AIF Middle East veteran who was awaiting a medical discharge, ownership and rights to a Two Up game. Many of the pennies which form part of the game had previously been used by the veteran's father during the First World War. This lucrative game travelled with Heuston for the remainder of the war, and was used at Townsville, Morotai, Labuan, Kuching and Rabaul. The tail side of each coin was deliberately kept unpolished so that players and spectators could easily distinguish between heads and tails at a distance. Details on the playing of the game can be found online in an Australian War Memorial Encyclopedia entry on Two Up.