Australian Army officer's winter service dress trousers : Lieutenant J M Bruce, RAASC

Tailor made Australian Army officer's khaki winter service dress trousers. The trousers have a concealed seven button fly, and six buttons located inside the waistband for the attachment of braces. There are two internal waist pockets, an internal coin pocket on the right front waistband and one internal rear pocket on the right. Waist adjustment is by a pair of fabric tabs with chromed metal slides. The waistband is lined with brown polished cotton fabric, while the pocket linings are of white cotton. The rear waistband has a white cotton embroidered manufacturer's 'Murdoch's Ltd SYDNEY', while a white cotton tape sewn inside the left hand rear waistband is marked in black ink 'Lieut. G.H. MACFARLANE P.O.W. 229' followed by an illegible number.

These trousers were originally worn by Captain G H MacFarlane, and then passed to Lieutenant J M Bruce. Gordon Henry MacFarlane, born in Sydney in 1915, was a member of the pre-war permanent army, and joined the AIF as NX26, Lieutenant, Australian Army Service Corps, in 1939. He served as quartermaster with the Australian Reinforcement Depot (6th Division) in the Middle East, but was taken prisoner by the Germans (probably on Greece) in 1941. After being held in captivity at Oflag 7B, Eichstatt, he returned to Australia in 1945. James Meikle Bruce was born in Hamilton, NSW, in 1923, and served as Private NX111315 with 2/16 Infantry Battalion during the Second World War. He later joined the CMF as a private, and was commissioned as a lieutenant (in the Royal Australian Army Service Corps) in 1949. He left the force in 1951.