Kitbag : Lieutenant M T Turrell, 2 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

Brown, lightweight canvas kitbag, with a draw-rope threaded through the eight brass eyelets, and an internal flap. At the base is a canvas loop used to secure the kitbag's draw-rope. The round base is reinforced with a second layer of canvas, and is painted lime green. Also marked on the base are three parallel painted lines with a fourth line painted square to the first three. The two outer lines are blue and the central one is dull pink. The fourth line is sky blue. On the side of the kitbag is a white painted panel on which is marked in black ink, '235175 M T TURRELL'. Stencilled in black on the inside of the kitbag is, 'M.TX D[broad arrow symbol]D 1953'. Below this in red is, '[illegible] 18'.

Used by Lieutenant M T Turrell, 2 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (RAR). Born in Sydney on 19 January 1938, Maxwell Thomas Turrell was educated at Crows Nest Intermediate Boys High School and North Sydney Boys Technical High School. At both schools he served in the School Cadets, attaining the rank of cadet lieutenant. Turrell enlisted in the Australian Army in 1956, graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon.

In 1961, in the wake of the Malayan Emergency, Lieutenant Turrell served in Malaya with 2 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (RAR). Operating as part the 28th Commonwealth Brigade, Turrell commanded 11 Platoon, D Company, 2 RAR in conducting patrols the 'Black Zone' on the Malay -Thailand border, aimed at suppressing continued Communist Terrorists (CT) activity in the region in 1962 and 1963. In May 1966 Captain Turrell was deployed to South Vietnam as adjutant of 6 RAR. Following his service in the Vietnam War, Turrell was promoted to Major and appointed Officer Commanding 2nd Army Recruiting Unit. Major Turrell served in the Army until his discharge in 1981.