Matchbox cover : New Zealand Expeditionary Force

Matchbox cover in the form of a book shaped metal case with a light brown celluloid covering. On the front is the badge of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force which shows a laurel wreath surmounted by a King's crown and the letters 'N.Z.' in the centre. Below this is 'N.Z.E.F.'. On the side is a green Maori tiki. On the back of the bible cover is the text, 'The Quotation used by His Majesty the King in his Christmas broadcast to the Empire. "GOD KNOWS" "I SAID to the man who stood at the gate of the Year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown,' and he replied: "'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.'" COMPOSED BY MISS L. M. HASKINS.'.

This matchbox cover was possibly collected by NX19953 Sergeant Owen Cleeve Rowland Pike, born 25 November 1910 in Malmsbury, England. Pike enlisted as a private with 2/3 Casualty Clearing Station on 11 June 1940 in Griffith, NSW and served in the Middle East from December 1940 until February 1943. He was promoted to lance corporal in May 1941 and to sergeant in April 1943. Pike then served in New Guinea and the Netherland East Indies from August 1943 to June 1945. In October he volunteered to join the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). Pike served with 20 Australian Field Ambulance initially in Morotai and then in Japan until February 1949. He was discharged from 2/3 Casualty Clearing Station on 14 March 1949. The poem quoted on the back of the cover was written by Minnie Louise Haskins and used by King George VI in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the empire.