Informal outdoor portrait of 2782162 Gunner (Gnr) Ian David Burrett. In 1966 Gnr Burrett ...

Informal outdoor portrait of 2782162 Gunner (Gnr) Ian David Burrett. In 1966 Gnr Burrett volunteered for National Service and served as a gunner clerk with HQ Battery, 4th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery in Vietnam from 1 May 1967 until 9 January 1968 at Nui Dat. On his return to Australia Gnr Burrett gifted his identity tags to his mother, Marjorie. Following her death in 2000, Gnr Burrett discovered these in an evelope on which she had inscribed: "My husband Reg and I met Ian at Canberra Airport / when he returned home on 10th January, 1968. MV . (went to camp 2/2/66)." She later recorded: "These Identification discs - INTACT - / are the most precious things - my son, Ian Burrett, / has given me. They represent his safe / return from Vietnam, where he served with / H.Q. Battery, 4th Field Regiment, R.A.A./ Marjorie Vaughan [signature] / formerly BURRETT." The identity tags and envelope they were safely kept in are held in the Australian War Memorial's (AWM) collection at REL49434.001 and REL49434.002. The AWM also holds the whistle used by Gnr Burrett's father, then Second Lieutenant (2 Lt) Athol Frederick Burrett (later Major), 3 Battalion, to signal the charge at Lone Pine on 6 August 1915. Following the war, Athol Burrett was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assumed command of the 52nd Battalion, Citizens Military Force. The whistle is held at REL/07580.