Trench Art Pendant of Sergeant Frederick Ernest BRUCE 243

In August 1914, orders were circulated that each man wear an identity disc showing his name, number (if relevant), unit, and religion. In late 1916 Australia adopted the British regulation from Army Order 287 (published as Military Order 507 by the AIF) to issue each member of the AIF with two discs, both made of compressed fibre: an octagonal green disc (formally referred to as “Disc, identity, No. 1, green”), and a circular red disc (formally referred to as “Disc, identity, No.2, red”).
In late 1917 a number of Australian newspapers published an article titled “Soldier’s Fears”, which noted: ‘Many soldiers have a horror of losing their identity discs, or of being unidentified if they are killed, and buried in a nameless grave. One man is known to carry little scraps of paper in every pocket, giving his name and regiment, so that his body may be recognised if he is killed.’ Given that it was over two years from the declaration of war until the Department of Defence finally ordered two discs be worn, this fear could have contributed to large numbers of Australians wearing unofficial commercially produced or improvised identity discs in addition to their officially issued disc. Discs made from ground down foreign coins were particularly popular, as were identity bracelets.