Presentation watch fob : Private John Hardie, 33 Battalion, AIF

Presentation rose and white gold watch fob presented to Private John Hardie upon his return after the First World War.
Obverse features a soldier within a circle surrounded by a wreath.
Reverse is engraved with the inscription 'WE THANK YOU From the residents of GRONG GRONG 1918'.

Associated with the service of 3842 Private John Hardie, born at Balmain, NSW. He was 24 years old and working as a farrier at Grong Grong, NSW, when he enlisted on 2 December 1916. He embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT Anchises on 24 January 1917 with the 10th reinforcements to 1 Pioneer Battalion. He disembarked at Devonport, England on 27 March. On 11 July he was transferred to 33 Battalion and three weeks later joined his battalion in France. Hardie received a gunshot wound to his left knee during the Second Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium on 12 October 1917 and was transferred to hospital in England. He rejoined 33 Battalion on 5 February 1918 but was wounded for the second time, in the left foot and right thigh, at Villers Bretonneux in France, in April 1918. He was again hospitalised in England. On 31 July Hardie left England to return to Australia on board HMAT Malta. He was discharged medically unfit on 18 October 1918. This fob was presented to Private Hardie upon his return to Australia.