Vulcan cigarette lighter : Lance Corporal C H McQuillan, 1 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

Vulcan brand chrome-plated brass flip-top cigarette lighter. The Royal Australian Regiment badge is affixed to the front with 'VIETNAM' engraved underneath. 'C H McQuillan' and 'In Memory of B.O. Peterson [sic] K.I.A. HOBO WOODS Vietnam. Jan '66' is engraved on the back. 'VULCAN P.O. BOX 3252S.F. Calif. JAPAN' impressed on base. Pin missing from hinge.

Associated with the service of 54677 Lance Corporal Carey Howard McQuillan. Born Geraldton, Western Australia, McQuillan deployed to Vietnam with 1 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR) in June 1965, and served there for 12 months.

5411305 Private Bror Ola Petersen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and immigrated to Australia in the early 1960s. He worked as a jackaroo in northern Western Australia before enlisting in the Australian Army. Petersen served in the same battalion as Lance Corporal McQuillan, and both men fought with this unit on Operation Crimp from 8 to 14 January 1966. The objective of this operation was a series of underground bunkers believed to be in the Ho Bo Woods area of Cu Chi district in Binh Duong Province. Intelligence indicated that these bunkers housed the headquarters for the Communist committee that controlled all Viet Cong activity in the Capital Military District. Over 8000 troops took part in the operation, including a number of Australian units attached to the US 173rd Airborne Brigade.

A large complex of tunnels was subsequently uncovered by 1 RAR, which was later discovered to cover approximately 56 square kilometres. It consisted of over 200 kilometres of tunnels in multiple levels, and included living, working and storage areas. Policy at the time was to destroy tunnels and bunkers, but the engineers of 3 Field Troop began searching them, capturing large quantities of weapons, food, equipment and documents. Following these successes, American units throughout Vietnam received orders to clear tunnels before destroying them.

On the afternoon of 10 January, Private Petersen was moving through a clearing outside his platoon's perimeter when he was fired on by two Viet Cong, sustaining a gunshot wound to the head. He was evacuated, but was dead on arrival at the Brigade base area. He is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery in Western Australia.