| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | AWM2020.22.258 |
| Collection number | MSS2290 |
| Collection type | Digitised Collection |
| Record type | Wallet |
| Item count | 1 |
| Object type | Memoir |
| Physical description | 209 Image/s captured |
| Maker |
Matthews, Chris |
| Date made | 1981; 2009 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copying Provisions | Digital format and content protected by copyright. |
| Source credit to | This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government. |
Wallet 1 of 1 - Memoirs of Corporal Allan Ernest Matthews, transcribed and edited by Chris Matthews, 1981; 2009
Description
Collection relating to the Second World War service of VX5175 Corporal Allan Ernest Matthews, 2/7 Australian Infantry Battalion, 1939-1945.
Wallet 1 of 1 – Wallet consists of a memoir of Corporal Allan Ernest Matthews’ war time experiences titled “Memoirs – A.E.W. Matthews.” The memoir comprises eleven chapters covering key moments in Matthews’ experience of war, from the time he enlisted at the beginning of the war to his liberation, and includes chapters on Palestine, Egypt, Bardia, Cyrenaica, Greece, Crete, Salonika, Moosburg, and Hohenfels. The memoir also includes biographical notes for each person Matthews recalls; photographs; and a section interpreting the letters Matthew wrote to his mother while a prisoner of war. The memoir was compiled almost forty years after the war, in the early 1980s, with its genesis on audio tape. The audio recordings, comprising almost 13 hours, were facilitated by Allan’s son Chris, who later transcribed the tapes, presenting them in 2009 as a bound memoir of over 200 pages. When Matthews began recording his memoir, he described himself to Chris as four people: ‘There was himself before the war, the person who was in the army, the one who was in jail and finally the person he became after the war’. The memoir is the amalgam of these lives.