New Testament with attached Schoolchildren's Peace medalet : Driver E J Williams, 2/4 Field Ambulance Accession Number: REL39784

Description

Copy of the New Testament published in 1939 in London for the British and Foreign Bible Society by Oxford University Press. Presented by the Society in 1940 to the New South Wales members of the Second Australian Imperial Force volunteering for active service in defence of the British Empire. 384 pages. The name E.J. Williams is enscribed in the inside front cover, and NX...Driver E.J. Williams 2/4 Field Ambulance, 1940. A School Peace Medalet has been tied around the cover with a pink ribbon, tied in a bow. The medalet is circular with a plain edge and integral suspension loop. The obverse features a symbolic female figure of Peace, holding a sword and standing on a plinth marked 'PEACE 1919'. Behind her flies a dove, and at her left and right feet are two figures freed from their shackles. The reverse features a central panel surrounded by laurel leaves, surmounted by the King's Crown with the word 'VICTORY' over the rays of the rising sun. A sailor and a digger stand at ease on either side of the panel on which is cast 'THE / TRIUMPH / OF / LIBERTY / AND / JUSTICE'. Below the leaves is a very small panel with the words 'THE PEACE OF 1919' and the manufacturer's name.

Contextual Description

Related to the Second World War service of Driver E J Williams, 2/4 Field Ambulance. Unfortunately it has not been possible to determine which E J Williams this is, as there are 45 possibilities, with no exact match.

It is presumed that the Schoolchildren's Peace medalet was given to Driver Williams when a child in 1919 and that he attached it to his bible as a keepsake or good luck charm when he enlisted, tied to his New Testament, many copies of which were presented to members of the Second AIF in 1940 by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

The medalet was designed by C Douglas Richardson, 'The Peace of 1919' medalet was issued by the Defence Department to school children throughout Australia to commemorate the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty in 1919. They were originally suspended from a narrow piece of red, white and blue striped cotton ribbon.