Shrapnel damaged tobacco tin : Private W P Ham, 29 Battalion, AIF

Small round, lacquered tin-plated steel tobacco tin with separate lid, bearing the remains of a black lacquered label on lid and side for Wills's Vice Regal Mixture'. The side of the tin and an upper section of the lid bear holes caused by shrapnel damage.

Born in Sydney, NSW, in 1895, Walter Percival Ham was working as a clerk in Victoria when he enlisted in the AIF at Seymour on 4 April 1915. After training at Broadmeadows, including specialist signals training, he was assigned the service number 2528 and posted as a private to the 7th reinforcements of 6 Battalion, AIF. Ham left Australia for Egypt aboard HMAT A64 Demosthenes, on 16 July 1915. By the time he had completed further training in Egypt, the 6th Battalion, which he had been due to join on Gallipoli, had been withdrawn to Lemnos for three weeks' rest after the Battle of Lone Pine. Ham became ill in Egypt and was repatriated to Australia medically unfit on 25 September 1915, aboard HMAT Ceramic. By the time he reached Melbourne he was so far recovered that he was found fit for duty on 22 October and permitted to re-enlist. Sent to Broadmeadows once again for training, Ham was assigned a new service number, 2473, and posted to the 4th reinforcements of 29 Battalion. He sailed from Melbourne aboard HMAT Anchises on 14 March 1916. Ham was given leave while the ship took on fuel and supplies at Colombo but, together with four other members of his unit, failed to reboard the troopship when it embarked for Egypt. The men completed their journey to Egypt aboard HMAT Orsova, and then moved on to France, arriving on 23 June. Ham served as a battalion runner during his service on the Western Front. In May 1917 he was hospitalised for three weeks after accidentally scalding his feet. His battalion's major action in 1917 was at Polygon Wood in Belgium, in September. On 19 March 1918 he received a severe shrapnel wound to his chest. Treated initially by the 15th Field Ambulance, and then at the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station, Ham was evacuated to Horton War Hospital at Epsom, England. Some of the shrapnel had been deflected by this tobacco tin which Ham had been carrying in his breast pocket when he was wounded. He was judged to be out of danger a month later and had recovered fully by 17 June when he was posted to the 5th Division Signal School. Ham remained in England until the end of the war, when he was transferred to 58 Battalion, after 29 Battalion had been disbanded in France. He returned to Australia on 28 March 1919. Ham retained the damaged tobacco tin as a reminder of his lucky escape and kept his medals in the tin after the war.