Matchbox holder
Production date
1942
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Object detail
Description
A handmade and hand engraved u-shaped piece of aluminium with AIF General Service 'rising Sun' badge attached to front, designed to hold a matchbox.
Classification
HANDCRAFTS
CIVIC MEMENTOES Souvenirs Commemorative
MILITARY Army
CIVIC MEMENTOES Souvenirs Commemorative
MILITARY Army
Maker
Production date
1942
Production place
Measurements
Width 65mm X Height 37mm X Depth 25mm
Media/Materials description
Aluminium
Signature/Marks
Soccer/ Soccer bal
Deck Tennis/ Net and bal
GOOD LUCK
TO/DAD FROM TOM
POS/SINGAPORE/15 FEB. 1942/
History and use
This matchbox holder, thought to have been made from aluminium scavenged from a damanged Japanese aircraft, is one of a rare collection of objects and documents related to Changi and Tarsao/ Tha Sao prisoner-of-war camps which were collected and brought back to Australia by Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick Smith, a trained dental technician, after his release from captivity in Tarsao/Tha Sao prisoner-of-war hospital camp on the Thai-Burma railway during World War II.
Born 21 July 1912 and raised in Ayr, North Queensland, where his father, Fred, was Queensland Government architect, Ivan Smith joined the AIF 32nd Dental Unit on 9 December 1941 at the age of twenty-nine years. On 13 December, Ivan marched in to Redbank Army Staging Camp and was immediately promoted to Acting Senior Sergeant. Less than a month after his embarkation for Singapore on 10 January 1942, Ivan was captured and reported missing when the British Australian and Indian Allied Forces surrendered to the Japanese after the Battle of Singapore on 16 February 1942.
Following the surrender, Sergeant Smith was marched with several thousand Australian and British servicemen to Changi prisoner-of-war camp in eastern Singapore. On 11 March 1943, he was one of five thousand men - of whom two thousand two hundred were Australians - selected to go to Thailand. This group, known as ‘D’ Force, was organised into three battalions which left Changi in March 1943 and were transported overland by train to work as forced labour on the Thai-Burma railway from Tarsao (Tha Sao) about a hundred and thirty kilometres point of the railway’s construction. By 15 April 1942, authorities in Malaya had officially declared Sergeant Smith, and, presumably, all members of ‘D’ forces to be, ‘Missing Believed Prisoners of War’.
As a dental technician, Sergeant Smith was classified as medical personnel and attached to Tha Sao base hospital as Resident Services Manager (RSM). Tha Sao began as a camp hospital but grew to become the base hospital for about thirteen thousand prisoners-of-war. By November 1943, Tha Sao had around two thousand four hundred patients, one third of whom were Australian.
After the railway was completed in 1943, the prisoners still had almost two years to survive before their liberation. In early September 1945, Sergeant Smith and his fellow prisoners of war were ‘recovered’ from Thailand (then known as Siam). he left Thailand on 6 October 1945 bound for Rangoon with many hundreds of ex-prisoners. From there he was taken to Singapore. After returning to Brisbane Sergeant Smith re-joined the AIF and remained in service until he reached the prescribed age for compulsory retirement on 21 July 1967. He died on 6 March 1974.
Born 21 July 1912 and raised in Ayr, North Queensland, where his father, Fred, was Queensland Government architect, Ivan Smith joined the AIF 32nd Dental Unit on 9 December 1941 at the age of twenty-nine years. On 13 December, Ivan marched in to Redbank Army Staging Camp and was immediately promoted to Acting Senior Sergeant. Less than a month after his embarkation for Singapore on 10 January 1942, Ivan was captured and reported missing when the British Australian and Indian Allied Forces surrendered to the Japanese after the Battle of Singapore on 16 February 1942.
Following the surrender, Sergeant Smith was marched with several thousand Australian and British servicemen to Changi prisoner-of-war camp in eastern Singapore. On 11 March 1943, he was one of five thousand men - of whom two thousand two hundred were Australians - selected to go to Thailand. This group, known as ‘D’ Force, was organised into three battalions which left Changi in March 1943 and were transported overland by train to work as forced labour on the Thai-Burma railway from Tarsao (Tha Sao) about a hundred and thirty kilometres point of the railway’s construction. By 15 April 1942, authorities in Malaya had officially declared Sergeant Smith, and, presumably, all members of ‘D’ forces to be, ‘Missing Believed Prisoners of War’.
As a dental technician, Sergeant Smith was classified as medical personnel and attached to Tha Sao base hospital as Resident Services Manager (RSM). Tha Sao began as a camp hospital but grew to become the base hospital for about thirteen thousand prisoners-of-war. By November 1943, Tha Sao had around two thousand four hundred patients, one third of whom were Australian.
After the railway was completed in 1943, the prisoners still had almost two years to survive before their liberation. In early September 1945, Sergeant Smith and his fellow prisoners of war were ‘recovered’ from Thailand (then known as Siam). he left Thailand on 6 October 1945 bound for Rangoon with many hundreds of ex-prisoners. From there he was taken to Singapore. After returning to Brisbane Sergeant Smith re-joined the AIF and remained in service until he reached the prescribed age for compulsory retirement on 21 July 1967. He died on 6 March 1974.
Associated person
Registration number
H50531
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