Engraved tobacco tin : Private D J Anderson, 2/29 Battalion

Small aluminum tobacco tin with hinged lid. The lid has been engraved with the rays of an Imperial Japanese flag superimposed with a Returned from Active Service badge. Engraved in one corner are the initials 'DSN' and in the other '2/29 BN'. Above this is a colour patch which bears the remains of colour enamel. The bottom of the box is engraved with a 'Rising Sun' badge. Above this is a banner with the words 'MALAYAN CAMPAIGN'. The sides of the tin are also engraved. The front bears the words 'TO DAVE FROM BILL' with a small shield in the middle. This shield contains the service number 'NX73976 AIF'. The right side of the tin has the word 'SINGAPORE' and the left, 'THAILAND'. The rear side is engraved with the names ' J.W.MILLER, W.J.CAMPNY, R.S.SHARPLES, R.GREEN, B.GREENLUND'.

This tobacco tin was made by VX59098 Private William John Campny and given to his friend NX73976 Private David Joseph Anderson. Both men were prisoners of the Japanese and worked on the Burma-Thailand Railway during their captivity. Campny was born in Sydney in September 1919, but enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne on 7 July 1941. Anderson was also born in Sydney, in May 1920, and enlisted in that city on 9 December 1941. Both men served with 2/29 Battalion during the Malayan campaign and were taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore. They both survived their captivity, Anderson discharged on the 23 November 1945 and Campny on 6 December. The other men listed on the tin, all fellow prisoners of war, are NX41869 Private Michael William Miller, 2/30 Battalion from Rose Bay in Sydney, who enlisted 4 August 1941 in Sydney and was discharged on 30 January 1946; NX41868 Private Raymond Stanley Sharples, 2/30 Battalion, from Corrimal, NSW, enlisted 4 August 1941, discharged 8 December 1945; NX65750 Private Robert Green, 2/19 Battalion from Wollongong, NSW, enlisted 7 November 1940, discharged 28 November 1945 and NX77771 Private Bill Greenlund, 2/29 Battalion from Newtown in Sydney who enlisted 10 December 1941 and was discharged on 4 December 1945.