Pattern 37 webbing water bottle carrier : Warrant Officer Class 1 R T Turrell, 2/6 Field Regiment, AIF

Pattern 37 webbing water bottle carrier. The carrier has been dyed green, and is made up of a webbing framework with a snap fastener for securing the bottle. The brass buckles on the side attachments have been removed. Written in black ink is, 'NX16053' and 'NX112 [illegible]' and ' G HOLL [illegible]'.

Pattern 37 webbing water bottle carrier associated with the service of NX16053 Warrant Officer Class I Raymond Thomas Turrell. Turrell was born at Kalgoorlie Western Australia on 19 January 1912. Turrell enlisted into the Second AIF at Paddington NSW on the 21 May 1940. He was allocated to the 2/6 Training Regiment, 7 Division, and a month later was appointed lance bombardier.

Turrell embarked with the 7th Division on the Queen Mary for the Middle East on 14 November 1940, arriving on 18 December. While serving in the Middle East, he was promoted to acting sergeant, then soon after, to acting warrant officer II on 22 April 1941. Turrell left the Middle East and served in New Guinea from 29 December 1942 until January 1943. In February 1943, he was diagnosed with Malaria.

Turrell later returned to Australia where he was transferred to 7 Division Headquarters, and taken on strength of 2/6 Australian Field Regiment. He was promoted to warrant officer class I, with the rank confirmed on 11 August 1943.

Turrell returned to New Guinea with the 2/6 Field Regiment, on 26 July, where he worked to identify where the Japanese targets were located on the Kokoda Trail. Due to reoccurring bouts of Malaria during his service, Turrell was discharged as medically unfit from the 2/6 Field Regiment on the 13 May 1945.

The other man, whose partially legible name is on the carrier, is likely to be NX112366 Lieutenant Garnet Dougal Hollier, who served in Australia during the war.