Decorated walking stick : Driver A P Flynn, Royal Army Service Corps

Decorated walking stick which features emblems of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS 'Handschar'. The walking stick has been fashioned from a single piece of wood and tapers from top to bottom. A metal toe cap has been added to the bottom of the stick. The designs on the walking stick have largely been applied with a burning implement.

The top of the handle is flat and 'SS' runes have been carved carefully into this space and have been surrounded with a double circular border. An Iron Cross has been burnt into the top of the handle underneath which is the Nazi Eagle, Death's Head over 'SS' runes with a bomb between the letters and the divisional symbol of a sleeved forearm with a hand holding a curved sword. A swastika is in the middle between the arm and sword.

Below the Divisional symbol is a decorative shield with checked pattern to represent the Croatian colours and an edelweiss flower, to represent mountain troops. Running lengthways around the walking stick is 'FUR ERINNERUNG / AUS / BOSNIEN! / BRCKO 25. JULI. 1944.' This translates as 'For memories of Bosnia 25 July 1944'.

On the rear of the handle is a four-leaf clover. Underneath this is a profile picture of a flying Fieseler Storch aircraft. Beneath this '13. SS-FREIW. B.H. GEB. DIV.' has been burned into the wood. At the foot of the walking stick is a coiled snake with its head facing up to the word 'BOSNIEN!'. The snake is thought to represent the anti-partisan role of the division.

A black cat has been burned into the wood between one of the Fieseler Storch wings and one of the Nazi eagle wings, which was added by the subsequent owner to represent the British 8th Army.

An unknown German Waffen-SS soldier made and decorated this walking stick during his service with the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS 'Handschar'. This soldier was among the survivors of the division taken prisoner by Allied forces in Austria in May 1945. He, along with the other members of the division were then transferred to Rimini in Italy.

The walking stick was confiscated by Driver Andrew Patrick Flynn of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) who thought the stick might be a weapon. Flynn was born on 11 January 1921 in Sunderland, England. He left school at 14 to start working. In 1940, at the age of 19, he joined the RASC and was trained as a driver.

He met his future wife, Elizabeth Josephine Thompson, during a rail journey when, during a stop, he went to a NAAFI (Navy Army Air Force Institutes) Canteen where she served him. A relationship blossomed and they were married on 16 December in Cumberland.

Flynn was posted to 1st Army in North Africa in early 1943. He continued to serve until the German forces surrendered at Tunis in May. During his time in North Africa, Flynn contracted Malaria and was bitten by a scorpion.

When the First Army disbanded following the Germans' surrender at Tunis, Flynn was posted to the 8th Army where he drove DUKWs, amphibious trucks known as 'ducks', during the invasions of Sicily and Italy. He was wounded in Italy when the vehicle he was driving was blown up. Flynn lost the tips of two fingers and both legs were hit by shrapnel.

During the winter of 1944-1945 Flynn contracted pneumonia. Combined with the effects of the Malaria he caught in North Africa, these illnesses would affect him for the rest of his life. He recovered and rejoined his unit, seeing out the remainder of the war with the 8th Army in Italy. Flynn was involved in looking after prisoners at the end of the war and it was in this role that he confiscated the walking stick. He added the image of the black cat, the symbol of the 8th Army, to the walking stick soon after.

He returned to England and was demobilised in 1946. On returning home he met his son, Joseph Andrew Flynn, who had been born on 26 October 1943, for the first time . Flynn's health continued to trouble him and he moved his family to Australia at the end of 1956. They arrived in Australia on 26 January 1957.

Flynn and his family initially lived in South Australia and he worked as a truck driver. The family also lived in Queensland before finally relocating to Wannanup, Western Australia after continued health issues forced Flynn to retire. Flynn passed away in August 1989 at the age of 67 from complications due to his respiratory issues.