Embroidered handkerchief : Lance Corporal A H Mitchell, 22 Brigade Headquarters

Place Asia: Taiwan
Accession Number REL/03964
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Heraldry
Physical description Cotton
Maker Mitchell, Albert Henry
Place made Taiwan
Date made c 1944-1945
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Description

White cotton handkerchief embroidered in yellow, green, blue, red and orange chain and backstitch. The handkerchief shows a green outline map of Australia marked with the state boundaries and capital cities. The name of each state and city is underlined in the same green. In the centre is a representation of the Australian army 'Rising Sun' badge in yellow with the words 'AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH MILITARY FORCES' embroidered in green. The maker has not has enough red thread to finish the crown in the centre of the badge and this has been completed in light orange thread. There are yellow edged scrolls above and beneath the map bearing the words, in green, 'THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME'. The bottom scroll is held by two kangaroos outlined in blue.

History / Summary

This hankerchief was embroidered by NX52503 Lance Corporal Albert Henry Mitchell while he was a prisoner of war at Camp No 1, Kankaseki, in Formosa (Taiwan). Mitchell, who was born in Kempsey, NSW, in 1905, enlisted in Mudgee on 3 July 1940. He was posted to 22 Brigade Headquarters, 8 Division, and was captured when Singapore fell to the Japanese in February 1942. Mitchell had been Brigadier H B Taylor's driver and he accompanied him to Formosa. He was repatriated after the end of the war aboard USS Santees, and discharged in February 1946. The phrase 'There's no place like home' at the top of the embroidery is a quote of lines spoken by the character of Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, in the popular film 'The Wizard of Oz', which was released in 1939.