Prisoner of War Pullover : Lieutenant A L Walker, 2/1 Australian Machine Gun Battalion

Green, brown and khaki wool pullover, with a high rolled cowl collar. The collar, sleeves and body are worked in stocking stitch and the cuffs and basque in rib.The collar is green, the body brown and basque and the cuffs khaki.

Hand knitted jumper associated with the service of VX13857 Lieutenant A L Walker. The pullover was made in the winter of 1943 by Lieutenant J Scoular, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, for Captain Walker while they were prisoners of war (POW) at Oflag VII B, Eichstatt, Bavaria, using wool from unravelled socks sent by the Red Cross and knitting needles made from bed boards. Archibald Larnach Walker was born at Brighton, Victoria on 12 December 1913. He was a stock and station agent and had served in the militia for six years before he enlisted into the Second AIF on 1 May 1940.

Walker was taken on strength of the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion (MG Bn). After training in Australia he embarked from Australia aboard the Ulysses on 6 August 1940. He arrived at Liverpool, England on 9 October, spending a month in England before embarking for the Middle East on 16 November. He was briefly attached to 2/9 Battalion in November to December, before returning to the 2/1st MG Bn. On 29 March Walker embarked for Greece with his battalion to support the 6th Division. A few days after arriving in Athens the 2/1st moved to Gerania in the north to support units manning the Aliakmon line. The machine gunners fought alongside the infantry for the rest of the campaign and evacuated between the end of April and the beginning of May.

Walker was not evacuated and was posted as missing in action on 30 April 1941. In July he was noted as a prisoner of war, which was confirmed in September. He had been captured by the Germans during the withdrawal from Greece in April. He was first held at Oflag VB at Biberach, Germany from July 1941. In February 1942 he was transferred to Oflag VIB at Warburg. After the mass escape, known as the 'Warburg wire job', all British and Commonwealth officers were transferred from Warburg. Walker was sent to Oflag VIIB at Eichstatt, Bavaria. He remained in this camp until it was evacuated in April 1945 due to the Allied advance. The prisoners were marched to Stalag VII A at Moosburg, where Walker was liberated, arriving in England in May 1945. He returned to Victoria in July 1945 aboard the Mauratania. He elected to remain with the AIF and served until April 1947 when he was transferred to the Australian Army Reserve.