Pair of brown leather Australian service ankle boots : Bombadier Karl Klu, 1 Divisional Ammunition Column, AIF

Pair of brown leather AIF issue boots without toecaps. Each boot has six pairs of steel eyelets with attached brown leather laces. The soles are of leather, attached with small iron tacks, the heels having large iron nails for reinforcement and to reduce wear. Stamped on each instep is size '6' inbetween 'M' and '4'. Stamped below is '1914' for year of manufacture. There is some scuffing at the heels and the sides of the soles on both boots.

These boots were worn by 3236 Bombardier Karl Klu, 1 Divisional Ammunition Column (D.A.C.) during his service in the field.

Klu enlisted on 16 September 1914 and joined 2 Field Artillery Brigade (F.A.B) reinforcements. He was transferred to 1 D.A.C. on 13 February 1915 and was transferred to Gallipoli on 14 July 1915. He was transferred to 3 F.A.B. and taken on strength (T.O.S.) by 3 D.A.C. on 6 September 1915, disembarking in Alexandria, Egypt from Gallipoli on 16 December 1915. On 11 March 1916 he was mustered as a driver in France and disembarked in Marseilles on the 29th of that month. Klu was later transferred to and T.O.S. by 1 D.A.C. on 15 May 1916. On 24 January 1916 he was transferred to 1 Sub Section. Apart from periods of leave, Klu spent the rest of his service in France before embarking for Australia on 13 October 1918.

Brown leather boots were worn by Australian soldiers during the First World War. This differentiated them from their British counterparts, who wore black leather boots. In some cases, Australian soldiers wore black boots when no brown boots were available.