Identity disc : Lieutenant D Junor, 2/1 Australian Fortress Company

Places
Accession Number REL31910
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Badge
Physical description Aluminium, Fabric tape
Maker Unknown
Place made Netherlands East Indies: Java
Date made c 1942-1943
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Description

Small rectangular metal identity disc with a large safety pin on the reverse for attachment. The disc has been engraved on the front with an irregular rectangular border which has been roughly subdivided into three parts. The top left division is engraved with a Japanese character for 'AUSTRALIAN' and the top right division contains an engraved Japanese character, coloured red, for 'SENIOR OFFICER'. Underneath this, is a piece of adhesive cloth tape with the number '29325' written in black ink. The reverse of the disc is engraved 'LT. D.JUNOR NX71145'.

History / Summary

Issued by the Japanese to NX71145 Lieutenant Donald Junor who served in 2/1 Australian Fortress Engineers during the Second World War. Junor was born in Victoria in 1915 and he joined the Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) in Melbourne in 1936. In May 1941 he was commissioned as a lieutenant and shortly after this, in July 1941 he joined the AIF to serve with 2/1 Australian Fortress Engineers,attached to Sparrow Force. In December 1941 he sailed from Darwin in the armed merchant cruiser, HMAS Westralia, alongside SS Zealandia carrying troops from 2/40 Battalion. The ships arrived at Koepang Bay, Timor later in the month.

For a brief period in February 1942 Junor saw action fighting with 2/40 Battalion as an infantryman, not an engineer. After surviving a bombing raid by Japanese aircraft he was taken prisoner by Japanese forces. He was first taken to the Prisoner of War (POW) camp Osesapa Besar where he was interned for a period of seven months. In September 1942 he was transferred to a camp at Tandjong Priok and in January 1943 he was moved again to a camp at Makesuri. He was transferred for the final time in April 1943 to Tjideng camp where he acted as a working party officer until his release and repatriation to Singapore by air in September 1945. In October he boarded the ship SS Tamaroa to return to Sydney. As a result of his treatment as a POW Junor spent the next eleven months in hospital. He was discharged from the AIF a year later in August 1947.