Compressed fibre identity discs: Lieutenant J S Whittle, 2/1 Battalion

Pair of pressed fibre identity discs threaded around a nine carat gold necklace. One of the discs is circular and the other, an elongated octagon, both have 4 mm mounting holes. The following details are stamped on both discs: Obverse: 'NX8691 CE 04 WHITTLE J'.

Worn by NX8691 Lieutenant Jack Sidney Whittle who served with 2/1 Battalion. Whittle was born in Marrickville, NSW, in October 1918. He enlisted in the army on 3 November 1939 and served first in North Africa. Whittle was captured in Crete in 1941 and transported to a holding centre in Germany. The conditions in the camp were poor to begin with but gradually improved with the regular delivery of Red Cross food parcels and the development of facilities. Whittle and a fellow prisoner were permitted to pursue their accountancy studies. In Eichstatt on 14 April 1945, inmates of the camp were moved south to the National Redoubt in Bavaria. Whittle, unsure of their new destination, saw a chance for escape and broke from the line of march into the nearby woods. He walked for three days in search of the American lines. By the third day, low on food and water he made contact with some Polish (forced) farm labourers who provided him with food and shelter. The following day Whittle made a hasty retreat as German SS troops approached, observing their point of attack Whittle concluded that the Americans were actually in the direction he had come from. He retraced his steps for most of that day until he came to the village of Landershafen where he went to refill his water bottle. In the grounds of the German married quarters Whittle was apprehended by one of the female residents who, instead of turning him in, offered him food and shelter. Later that day Whittle learned that the Americans had just bypassed Eichstatt and he set out once more to join them. In the small village of Ochsenfeld he came across an American Lance Corporal who had recently been separated from his unit and together they caught up with the American mobile column 16 km further south. Whittle returned to Australia and was discharged on 18 October 1945.