Inscribed coconut : Lance Sergeant J H Shepherd, 474 Australian Heavy Anti Aircraft Troop

Intact coconut, with circular metal hook fixed to the top for hanging. Handwritten in black texta on one side of the nut is 'MISS LESLIE PROUD, 8 GLADSTONE ST., BELLAMBI, SOUTH COAST, N.S.W'. On the opposite side is handwritten 'MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY'

Coconut associated with the service of NX119818 Lance Sergeant John Hartley Shepherd. Shepherd was born in Randwick, NSW on 3 October 1921 and was a clerk on enlistment in 2 Anti Aircraft Battery, CMF (Militia) on 18 October 1939. He was reposted to 3 Anti Aircraft Battery on 5 November 1940 and called up for full time duty on 1 October 1941.

Shepherd transferred to the Second AIF on 7 September 1942, and was taken on strength by 25 Australian Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery. He was detached to the Land Headquarters School of Artillery Aircraft Recognition on 6 June 1943 before rejoining his unit on 12 June. On 18 August Shepherd was transferred to 474 Australian Heavy Anti Aircraft Troop and embarked for overseas service on 27 September. He disembarked at Milne Bay, New Guinea, on 7 October and was taken on strength by 33 Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery.

He returned to Australia on leave on 15 May 1944, rejoining 474 Heavy Anti Aircraft Troop in Milne Bay on 4 July. He was promoted to the rank of lance sergeant on 17 August and posted to Madang in December for transfer to Emirau Island. Emirau Island was the staging point for attacks on the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul, and was home to an American airbase and several US Marine Corps and Royal New Zealand Air Force bomber squadrons. Shepherd arrived at Emirau on 18 December where he served until the end of the war. He embarked for Australia aboard the SS River Glenelg on 14 October 1945 and disembarked in Brisbane on 19 October.

Shepherd transferred to the NSW Lines of Communication Recruit Reception and General Details Depot on 30 October for demobilisation, but was admitted to 12 Contingency Hospital with malaria on 20 December and discharged on 7 January 1946. Shepherd then marched out to the NSW Discharge Depot Rehabilitation Unit on 24 January and transferred to the Eastern Command Leave and Transit Depot for discharge from the Second AIF on 27 March. He was formally discharged from the CMF on 15 April.

Shepherd posted this coconut to Miss Leslie Proud for her birthday during the war. It is not known exactly why Shepherd posted this coconut to Miss Proud, who was a child at the time. Her father, 6170 Warrant Officer Foster Hamilton Proud, RAAF, also served in Papua New Guinea during the Second World War and it is thought the two men may have known each other.