Queen Mary cabin number : Private W P Moore, 2/25 Battalion

Souvenired cabin number 'A 140' from the troopship Queen Mary mounted on a wooden plaque. On the reverse, a section of the plaque has been cut away to show how the lettering was voided and then filled with a yellow plastic to produce an inlaid effect. Inscribed below the cabin number is 'THIS CABIN NUMBER IS A SOUVENIR OF THE QUEEN MARY. ACQUIRED BY QX13664 PTE W.P. MOORE "A COY" 2/25 BN ON ROUTE TO THE MIDDLE EAST IN 1941'.

Queen Mary cabin number A 140 souvenired by QX13664 Private William (Bill) Percival Moore en route to the Middle East in 1941. Moore was born in Sydney on 19th July 1915. He enlisted in Queensland with 2/25 Battalion on 1 July 1940 and sailed to Darwin for training. He was quarantined there for five months due to an outbreak of meningitis. After further training at Enoggera, Queensland, Moore was granted embarkation leave during which he married Thelma May Tipper on 13 March 1941. After a two day honeymoon he travelled to Sydney and embarked for the Middle East aboard converted troopship, the Queen Mary. Moore shared his cabin with two other soldiers and used his bayonet to prise the cabin number away from the door to claim a souvenir of his trip. They arrived in Egypt in May 1941. Here, the battalion encountered heavy action from the Vichy French forces. Moore and his section took an abandoned Vichy fort but were cut off and forced to march twelve hours through terrible terrain to their lines at Latina River. On 19 June Moore was wounded in action when he received a gunshot wound to his knee and hip. Luckily, he was carrying his paybook and Salvation Army service cards in his hip pocket which deflected the bullet resulting in only a flesh wound to his hip. Moore lay wounded for several hours before being taken prisoner by the Vichy forces. As he was being carried away for treatment, D Company launched a counter attack and Moore was rescued only to be hit again by a stray .303 bullet from his own battalion. D Company took a number of Vichy prisoners and Moore was taken to a field hospital in Haifa. After undergoing seven operations and a period of convalescence, Moore sailed back to Australia to be reunited with his wife. He received further treatment at Greenslopes Military Hospital in Brisbane and was discharged medically unfit on 12 November 1942.