Canvas pouch : Lance Corporal F C Roy, 2/7 Battalion

Brown canvas pouch fashioned from material from a German tent. The fabric is frayed at the opening and black stitching is exposed along the bottom and right side of the pouch. Written on the front of the pouch is 'PTE.F.C.ROY V.X.16315. 2/7 BAT. No 09586 [indecipherable]'.

Associated with the service of VX16315 Lance Corporal Frank Roy, born on 23 September 1918 in Victoria. Roy enlisted as a private in the AIF on 29 February 1940 and embarked for the Middle East with 2/7 Australian Infantry Battalion, arriving in Kantara on 17 May. Roy went on to serve in Greece and Crete where he was promoted to lance corporal on 7 May 1941. In early June he was captured by the Germans and held at Skines prisoner of war camp where he made this pouch from a section of the tents in which the prisoners were housed. Roy was later sent to Stalag XIII C prisoner of war camp in Germany where he spent the remainder of the war before being liberated in May 1945. Roy used this pouch to hold the photos and letters which he kept during his four years in captivity. He returned to Australia on 24 July and was discharged on 31 August 1945.