War widows guild badge : Mrs I I Cameron

Circular silver coloured War Widows' Guild badge. The obverse shows a raised image of a Kookaburra alighting in flight on to a eucalyptus tree. Raised lettering around the edge of the badge reads 'WAR WIDOWS GUILD' as well as the designer's name 'AMeszaros' and the date '1951'. The reverse has a horizontal hinged securing pin and raised lettering which reads 'PROPERTY OF WAR WIDOWS GUILD' and 'K.C. LUKE MELBOURNE'. The number '2483' is impressed between the two inscriptions. The badge was attached to an original issue envelope (.002).

Membership badge issued to Mrs Ivy I Cameron, the widow of NX52530 Staff Sergeant Samuel Edward Cameron of 2/19 Battalion. Cameron was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, on 4 May 1909 and enlisted in the AIF on 3 July 1940. He served in Malaya before becoming a prisoner of war of the Japanese, when he was sent to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway in Thailand. He was unofficially promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer while interned. Cameron returned to Australia after the war but died on 21 October 1945, from illness contracted while he was a prisoner, only days after his repatriation.