Improvised identity disc : Private K P Hartshorne, 6th Division Australian Army Service Corps

Improvised identity disc made from a George V Australian shilling coin in 1941-1942 in the Middle East for SX680 Private Kenneth Percival Hartshorne.

SX680 Private Kenneth Percival Hartshorne enlisted at Adelaide, SA on 21 October 1939 and was discharged on 12 December 1944. He served in the 6th Division with the Australian Army Service Corps. He survived the disastrous Greek campaign in 1941 and went on to serve in New Guinea. During his service in the Middle East Hartshorne had this improvised identity disc made from a ground down Australian shilling coin, which he wore on a silver chain. However,he lost it during the Wau-Salamaua campaign in New Guinea in 1943.
Ten years later the disc turned up in Madang during the construction of a new building, under the supervision of Kevin Balmer, a New Zealand ex-patriate, who then sent it to an Australian living on Bougainville. Recognising a South Australian service number he forwarded the disc to the South Australian RSL, who traced Mr Hartshorne and returned it to him. Given the distance from Wau to Madang Hartshorne assumed that it had been picked up by a Japanese soldier who was subsequently killed near Madang.