Next of Kin plaque: Private J B Atkinson, 31 Battalion, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'JOSEPH BERTIE ATKINSON'. A checker's mark, '6', is impressed behind the lion's rear right paw and tail. Complete with original packaging and postal envelope.

Joseph Bertie 'Joe' Atkinson, a 25 year old linesman from Charters Towers, enlisted in the AIF at Brisbane, Queensland on 7 October 1915. After initial training he was assigned as a private to the 15th Reinforcements of the 9th Battalion, with the service number 4728. He embarked from Brisbane on 28 March 1916, aboard HMAT A73 Commonwealth. Atkinson undertook further training in Egypt, before embarking for England aboard HMT Arcadian on 27 July. Further training followed at Perham Downs before he finally joined the 9th Battalion at Oost Houck in Belgium on 13 October.

On 24 October, Atkinson sustained a severe gunshot wound to his right thigh while the battalion was marching to Fricourt in France. He was evacuated to the 26th (British) General Hospital in Etaples on October 27, before being transferred to England on 31 October to the Middlesex Hospital at Clacton-on-Sea. On December 22, he was transferred again, this time to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield. Atkinson was discharged to a convalescent depot in mid-January 1917, then to the 8th Training Battalion. He was assigned to the 69th Battalion and then to the 31st Battalion. He finally joined his new unit in Belgium in October 1917, where he was assigned to the battalion's 'B' Company.

On 12 April 1918, Atkinson was helping dig a trench at Bouzencourt in the Corbie sector, near the Vaire-Hamel Road, when a German artillery round landed 10 yards away. One of its shrapnel fragments pierced the back of his steel helmet and lodged in his brain. He was evacuated unconscious to a casualty clearing station, and then, on 17 April, to the 6th (British) General Hospital at Rouen. He died there on 23 April, eleven days after being wounded, and was buried at the St. Sever Cemetery Extension.

This commemorative plaque was sent to Atkinson's father, Richard, on 22 November 1922.