Compressed fibre identity discs: Major F J Howard, War Correspondent

Pair of compressed fibre identity discs, one round red, and one octagonal faded green. Each is impressed on the obverse ' F.J. HOWARD CE VX1284' and, on the reverse, '04'. The discs are joined together by a short leather plait

Worn by Frederick James Howard, born London, England on 17 October 1904 and who migrated to Melbourne, Australia with his family as a child. Howard was worked as a journalist with the Melbourne Herald and Weekly Times during the 1930s and published a number of works of fiction in the pre-war period (The Emigrant, 1928; Return Ticket, 1929; Leave us the Glory, 1936 and The Negroes Begin at Calais, 1938). He enlisted as a journalist on 11 December 1939 soon after war was declared. As an official War Correspondent with the rank of Major, Howard served and reported from the Middle East and was officer in charge of the Historical Records Section in North Africa in 1941 before John Treloar took over. As such he was responsible for the early development of the Australian War Memorial’s North Africa collections. He edited the 1941 Christmas gift book ‘Active Service: with the Australians in the Middle East’ and was sketched around this period by Ivor Hele (see ART29729). He later worked as the Public Relations Liaison Officer, General Headquarters, South West Pacific Area (SWPA) before being discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 28 September 1944. Howard continued writing and publishing after the war, producing more works of fiction as well as a biography of Charles Kingsford Smith in 1962 and in 1972 a biography of Sir Wilfred Selwyn Kent Hughes.