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