Drawstring pouch with Chinese characters : Sergeant J H Welch, A Company, 1 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

White cotton pouch with a drawstring around the top. The pouch has three large black chinese characters on the front which can be translated as 'Consolation or Comfort Bag'. On either side are smaller characters with details of the recipient and donor. The characters on the right read 'The People's Army of Korea' and 'The Chinese Volunteer Forces'. Those on the left read 'Lina Cui, Grade Three, Jicheng Primary School, Third district, Tianjin, China'.

Collected by 3961 Sergeant James Hamilton Welch, commander of 1 Platoon, A Company, 1 RAR during a patrol on the night of 9/10 November 1952. The bag came from the body of a Chinese soldier found between Hill 355 and Hill 227. These comfort bags are thought to have contained sweets or cigarettes and were sent to the Chinese forces in Korea by school children in China. Sgt Welch was born in September 1927 and enlisted in the Australian Military Forces on 4 March 1946. With the rank of Corporal he was posted to Japan on 15 October 1946 with 66 Australian Infantry Battalion as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. He was promoted to Sergeant while serving with 66 Bn and returned to Australia on 5 September 1947. He then served during the Korean War with A Company, 1 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment from 3 March 1952 to 20 January 1953. On 11 April of that year he was promoted to Lieutenant. He again served overseas in New Guinea with the Pacific Islands Regiment from 4 September 1955 to 10 January 1957. Welch continued to serve with the army and retired with the rank of Major.