Carved wooden shield for Empire Aquatic Sports held at Hohenfels, Bavaria : Staff Sergeant E T W Kidd

Wooden shield with carved detailing. Ornamental curls around the edges imitate curled parchment. On the left shoulder is 'AGGREGATE' and on the right one is 'SHIELD'. At the centre top is a circle within which is 'A GRADE'. In the centre of the shield is a wreath which surrounds crossed Union Jacks on staves. Between the crossed staves is '1944'. Below the wreath is 'WINNERS', then lower still 'AUSTRALIA' within an oval. A carved scroll 'EMPIRE / AQUATIC SPORTS' adjoins the underside of the circle at the centre top, then folds over at each end and drops down both sides of the wreath, finishing at both ends in a swallow tail. The name of each team member is carved diagonally across the falling sections of scroll, on small rebated panels. On the left side is 'J. REYNOLDS CAPT / L. BUXTON / T. KIDD / C. HARPER / W. LOWREY'. On the right side is 'R. NAPTHALI / H. FOWLER / L. WILLANS / N. ALFORD / D. McERLANE'. In the bottom left corner is 'HOHENFELS', and on the right one 'BAVARIA'. The reverse side bears two marks which probably relate to the use of the wood in a 'butter-box'. 'BR' within a square has been stamped in a red, and '8900' has been stencilled in black ink.

Associated with NX2920 Staff Sergeant Ernest Thomas Watson Kidd, 6 Australian Division Supply Column, AASC who was taken prisoner of war on Crete in 1941. He was interned in Stalag XIIIC Hammelburg and two of its Arbeitskommandos (working camps) from September 1941 till January 1944, and in Stalag 383 at Hohenfels, from January 1944 until April 1945. This shield was won by the Australian swimming team at the 'Empire Aquatic Sports Meet' held in Stalag 383 in July 1944. Kidd was a member of the team, who described themselves as the 'Human Hydroplanes'. The aquatic events were conducted in a large, open topped, inground, concrete lined, firefighting reservoir within the camp. The shield was manufactured from a Red Cross wooden 'butter-box' case. Bulk supplies of Red Cross butter were sent to prisoners of war, in the 'butter-box' cases, via Argentina. The shield is said to have been made by a British prisoner, A J Pickard of the 4th Hussars.