Souvenir miniature postcard book : Sergeant G E Watkins, 39 Battalion, AIF

Souvenir miniature postcard book with brass covers which may originally have had a silvered finish. The book contains a concertinaed series of eight miniature photographic postcards showing pre-war scenes of the town of Ypres. The front cover has the embossed coat of arms of Ypres upon it. The small clasp which would originally have held the book closed is missing.

This souvenir was collected in Ypres, Belgium by George Edgar Watkins during the First World War. Watkins was born in Malvern, England, and later immigrated to Australia. Watkins enlisted for service in the AIF in Melbourne on 10 February 1916 aged 23 years. He embarked with 39 Battalion for the Western Front in May of that year, serving in the scout section of the battalion. He was promoted to the rank of corporal in August 1917, then to sergeant in May 1918. On 4 June 1918, Sergeant Watkins was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for as 'leader of numerous patrols, he has been the means for securing valuable information in No Man's Land'. During the war, Watkins kept an extensive record of his daily routines and nightly patrols in diaries and also detailed information in the form of notebooks, hand-drawn maps, plus original photographs. Watkins also collected a vast array of artifacts from the battlefield during the war including a German Mauser Model G98 Rifle and a German flare pistol. All are held in the Memorial's collections. At the end of the war Watkins returned to Melbourne to return to his pre war occupation as a painter. He later married a girl he met while on leave in England during the war, and together they raised a daughter. George Edgar Watkins passed away in 1967.