| Accession Number | PR03657 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Private Record |
| Record type | Collection |
| Measurement | 1 wallet: 1cm |
| Object type | Letter |
| Maker |
Chenhall, Drene Walton |
| Place made | Pacific Islands: Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain, Gazelle Peninsula, Rabaul Area, Rabaul |
| Date made | 1942 |
| Access | Open |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
| Copying Provisions | Copyright expired. Copying permitted subject to physical condition. Permission for reproduction not required. |
Chenhall, Drene Walton (Sapper, b.1919 - d.1942)
Description
Collection relating to VX129400 Sapper (Spr) Drene Walton Chenhall, Fortress Engineers Rabaul, Royal Australian Engineers. Comprises one original handwritten letter and accompanying envelope, written by Spr Chenhall to his family after he became a prisoner of war of the Japanese in Rabaul. The one page letter is undated, however it was most likely his last letter sent home to Australia when the Japanese allowed the prisoners of war on Rabaul to write letters to their families. These letters were part of a mailbag letter drop by the Japanese after an air raid over Port Moresby. Spr Chenhall died at sea on 1 July 1942, when the Japanese transport ship he was on, the Montevideo Maru, was sunk off the north coast of Luzon by an American submarine.