Painted POW handkerchief : Private R D Clark, 2/4 Battalion, AIF

A man's white handkerchief with a blue and green checked border (probably Red Cross parcel issue). In the centre of the handkerchief, in coloured dyes and inks, have been added two crossed Australian flags, below which is the colour patch of 2/1 Australian Infantry Battalion and a scroll containing the words 'GREECE EGYPT LYBIA CRETE'. The signature of the artist, 'CLARK', can be seen above the word 'GREECE'.

Red Cross parcel issue handkerchief decorated by NX2024 Private Ronald Denham Clark whilst a prisoner of the Germans. Ronald Clark, born 2 January 1913, was the third of eight children born to Elsie and Ivan Clark of Inverell, NSW and followed his father's trade as a house painter. He displayed an artistic leaning from an early age, making toys to sell for pocket money and designing both his own and his brother Jack's tattoos. When he enlisted at Inverell, NSW on 4 November 1939, the colourful patriotic tattoo on his left arm was duly noted; it ultimately proved to be his undoing later in the war. All of Clark's four brothers and one of his sisters enlisted for service; Ronald was posted to 2/4 Battalion, trained at Ingleburn and embarked for overseas service in the Middle East on 10 January 1940 aboard HMT U3. Disembarking at Kantara, Palestine, 2/4 Bn entrained for Gaza and their camps at Julius and Kilo 89 and settled down to many months of training.

From 4 July until 19 August, Ronald Clark's company was one of two transferred to the Artillery for training on anti-aircraft guns and designated 'Y' A/A Regiment, intended to protect Alexandria and Haifa against Italian air raids. The companies were returned to the 2/4 Battalion after 19 August; Clark was in action at Bardia on 4 January 1941, at the battle for Tobruk on 21 and 22 January, Wadi Derna, 26 to 30 January; and three weeks garrisoning Benghazi.

On 31 March, Clark embarked for Greece, was evacuated to Crete in late April, missed the battalion's evacuation from Heraklion and was reported 'missing in action' on 6 June 1941. Like many Australians, Clark was hidden from the Germans by locals; a café owner took him in and he worked quietly there until his tattoo gave him away and he was taken prisoner. Australian authorities were informed of his status in early June 1942; a long and uncertain wait for his wife, Doris, and family. Clark was assigned POW number 24798 and sent to Stalag VIIIB at Gorlitz, eastern Germany, where he spent the remainder of the war and continued designing and illustrating, using dyes soaked from Red Cross food labels. With the approach of the Russian advance in early 1945, the camp was evacuated, with prisoners force-marched in freezing winter conditions to Stalag XIB at Fallingbostel, south east of Bremen, which was liberated in April 1945 by the British. A British doctor, Captain Walter Mills, 162 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, approached the camp just as its gates were opened. As hundreds of allied prisoners streamed out, Clark shouted 'Here's a souvenir for you cobber!' and pressed this handkerchief into Mills' hands. It was several days before Captain Mills got the chance to examine the handkerchief and by then he had forgotten at which camp the incident had occurred. Clark was eventually flown back to England on 31 May 1945 and after treatment was returned to Australia, arriving on 24 June 1945. Ron's sister Jean, who served in the Australian Women's Army Service, recalls 'I knew the lady that worked in Records and she was able to tell me the exact day that Ron would be discharged from the Sydney Showgrounds. I was able to get leave and be there amongst the crowd waiting for the names to be called. I was able to get through the crowd and welcome him home. I had several cries that day. He had developed a slight German accent.' Ron attended art school and started exhibiting at Inverell. Sadly a fire in his house in the mid 1950s destroyed all his work. Ron died on 16 April 1959, aged 46.

In the 1970s and 1980s Walter Mills travelled to Australia twice in an attempt to return the handkerchief that had been pressed into his hands in 1945. Convinced he would never discover the 'Clark' responsible, Mills finally donated this handkerchief to the Australian War Memorial in 1994; it was placed in display in 1999. Clark's family recognised Ron's style on a visit in 2005.