Female Relatives badge : Mrs W M Waters

Silver Female Relative's badge with a blue enamelled oval around the voided letters 'AIF'. The oval contains the words 'ISSUED BY DEPT OF DEFENCE TO WOMEN OF AUSTRALIA'. An enamelled scroll beneath this contains the words 'FOR DUTY DONE'. The badge is surmounted with a King's Crown. There is a pin fastening on the back. The reverse is stamped with the maker's details and the serial number '119283'.

The Female Relatives Badge was issued to the wife and/or mother, or to the nearest female relative, of soldiers, nurses and masseurs who had left Australia for active service abroad. This badge was worn by Mrs Winifred Mabel Waters, wife of 4542 Private Johny Waters. Born in Cornwall, England, Private Waters migrated to Australia with his family at the age of 4 and settled in South Australia. As a 23 year old motor driver he enlisted with 27 Battalion on 20 December 1915. He embarked from Adelaide aboard HMAT Shropshire on 23 March 1916 and proceeded to join his unit in France in December. On 27 February 1917 during the German withdrawal to the new Hindenburg Line defences, Waters was wounded in action. He had been fighting at Malt Trench, between Warlencourt and le Barque in France and received a severe gun shot wound to the head which fractured his skull. He was admitted to 3 Canadian Stationary Hospital but later died of his wounds on 7 March. He is buried at Doullens Communal Cemetery, France. In 1922 Mrs Waters married a returned soldier, 1452 Driver Richard Trendall.