Identity disc from Dakota crash site : Private I T L Ray, 2/31 Battalion

Octagonal aluminium identity disc impressed 'NX203686 PRES I T L RAY'.

Related to the Second World War service of Ian Thomas Lawler Ray of Ainslie, ACT, born Canterbury, Victoria on 25 January 1926. A public servant with the Department of Treasury, Ray enlisted on 6 May 1944 with 2/31 Battalion and was assigned service number NX203686. After training, Private Ray landed at Balikpapan with his battalion on 2 July 1945. He was wounded in the left arm later in the month and sent to Morotai for medical treatment. He was evacuated from Morotai by a 38 Squadron RAAF Dakota (A65-61) together with 28 other wounded Australians, nurses and other military personnel on 18 September 1945. The intended route was via Biak in Dutch New Guinea to Horn Island in Australia. The plane never arrived at its destination and Ray was posted as missing. He was 19 years old.

The aircraft wreckage was finally located in April 1967 in a ravine at a height of over four thousand metres near the top of the Carstenz Range in West Irian (Irian Jaya). Efforts were made by the RAAF to recover the remains in two expeditions in December 1970/February 1971, but the extreme terrain and weather conditions prevented any recovery. A further expedition (code named 'Exercise Dakota Recovery') was mounted from May 23 to June 6, 2005, as a joint exercise between the RAAF and Indonesian Air Force. Ian Ray's body was formally identified and his remains interred at Bomana War Cemetery, Port Moresby together with the other personnel who had died in the crash.

His identity disc was amongst the personal effects recovered from the crash site at that time.