Silk scarf decorated with embroidered cornflowers : Corporal C H Johnson, 32 Battalion AIF

Sheer white silk scarf with lattice fringe. There are seven cornflowers embroidered at each end of the scarf with a border under.

Embroidered silk scarf, displaying blue cornflowers (the symbol of young men in love), purchased by Cecil Herbert Johnson whilst on active service, most likely in France, and sent to his fiancee, Edith May Good, of Adelaide. See also REL45112. Johnson, born Mitcham, South Australia in 1896, was employed as a plumber when he enlisted on 7 February 1916. He underwent initial trained at Mitcham, SA during March, being assigned to 6th Reinforcements for 32 Battalion, and embarking for overseas service on 11 April from Adelaide aboard HMAT Aeneas. Johnson contracted meningitis and bronchitis on the voyage and was obliged to spend over a month in hospital at Alexandria. He joined 32 Battalion in France on 2 August 1916, just two weeks after their bloody involvement in the Fromelles attack, where it suffered 718 casualties, almost 75 per cent of the battalion's total strength, but closer to 90 per cent of its actual fighting strength. Although it still spent periods in the front line, 32 Battalion played no major offensive role for the rest of the year.

In early 1917, the German Army withdrew to the Hindenburg Line allowing the British front to be advanced and 32 Battalion participated in the follow-up operations. The battalion subsequently missed the heavy fighting to breach the Hindenburg Line during the second battle of Bullecourt as the 8th Brigade was deployed to protect the division's flank. Private Johnson took leave in England in August, returning a month before 32 Battalion's major role in Polygon Wood, near Ypres in Belgium on 26 September. Before that action, on 4 September, Johnson was appointed to the rank of Lance Corporal.

At Polygon Wood, Johnson brought up replacement SOS signalling gear to two companies through an 'intense' German bombardment, and returned with news of a build up of German troops, actions which resulted in his recommendation for the Military Medal, subsequently awarded in late October. His battalion played a role in the 8 August 1918 Offensive; he had been promoted to Corporal on 6 August. While he was on leave in England between 21 September and 11 October, 32 Battalion fought its last action of the war with American troops in the assault on the Hindenburg Line at the St Quentin Canal tunnel. After the war Corporal Johnson was transferred to 3 Division Motor Transport Company from 10 December to 11 April 1919 and embarked for return to Australia aboard the transport 'Port Lyttleton' which left England on 10 June and arrived in Sydney on 5 August - Johnson travelled by rail to his home in South Australia. He married Edith soon after his return.

Evidence shows that Johnson was initially recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal, but that this was downgraded to a Military Medal. This recommendation, however, reveals that Johnson was a battalion runner and includes the following extra detail: 'At Flers in October 1916 he displayed an utter disregard of danger. He carried message through enemy fire and on two occasions through heavy barrages. All through the winter on the Somme this man showed himself to be alert and worthy of confidence. At Lagnicourt in May 1917 he delivered a message although he had to go through a barrage of gas shells.'