Princess Royal Fortress Military Museum > Records

Japanese Ear Plugs

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c. 1940

Overview

Tapered hollow center made out of baker-light plugs with a mesh screen. They are in a wooden box with a swivel lid and marked with Japanese characters.

Historical information

Throughout 1942 the Japanese Army made their way southwards invading territories throughout the Pacific. The British and Australian quickly took up positions to halt the Japanese advance, however were overrun by the fast and vast numbers of the Japanese army. “Just over a thousand Australians, members of Gull Force, had been forced to surrender on Ambon in February 1942” Australian War Memorial.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-12-2018.7.27

Themes

Art and Design
Social History
War and Conflict

Material

Metal

Wood

Width

23 mm

Height or length

55 mm

Depth

35 mm

Inscriptions and markings

Japanese characters on wooden box which roughly translates to "ear safeguard instrument".

Contextual Information

Sergeant Stanley Thomas Spring WX28772 who was part of the Princess Royal Fortress Militia prior to and during Second World War. He then enlisted in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force (2/AIF) and went to New Guinea in 1942 and in the later part of the war to Ambon Island in Indonesia (then Netherlands East Indies). There he was instructed to search for Japanese soldiers and collaborators with the Japanese occupation. After that he was an officer overseeing some 5,000 Japanese Prisoners of War (POW) on Ambon. These ear plugs were souvenired by Sergeant Stanley Thomas Spring WX28772.

Keywords

Second World War

WW2

Prisoner of War

Japanese Imperial Army

Albany

Princess Royal Fortress

Ambon

Artillery

2nd Australian Imperial Force

Place made

Japan