P03236.241 Accession Number: P03236.241

Description

Studio portrait of Australian Prisoner of War (POW) 3272 Private (Pte) Laurence Phillip Carter-Ihnen, MM, 54th Battalion, from Newtown, NSW, taken at Alten Grabow POW camp, Berlin, Germany. Pte Carter-Ihnen enlisted at the age of 18 on 7 August 1915 and embarked for overseas with the 2nd Battalion on 2 November 1915 aboard HMAT Euripides. After being wounded in the upper right arm, he was captured at Laventie, France, on 20 July 1916. He was later awarded a Military Medal (MM) on the following recommendation: "At Tetillon on the 19th/20th July 1916, Private Carter-Ihnen carried messages along the line and to Battalion Headquarters continually throughout the night, although under heavy fire. He is only a youth, but one who seems to have no fear. He also went to locate the positions from which the Germans were sending up flares and did so at great risk. He was cool, plucky, and untiring, and greatly distinguished himself in the manner in which he did his work." While being held as a POW at Alten-Grabow, Germany in 1917, he wrote "I have received all my parcels to No 33, in good condition, but all the other Australians in this Camp, had a pair of braces in No 33, and I had none in mine, so would be glad if you could send me a pair, as I need them badly. I sent you a card some time ago, telling you I had heard from my mother that I had been awarded the D.C.M. and asking you to verify it, as I know nothing about it, as yet I have had no answer from you so I think my card must have strayed, will you let me know if it is true." [Pte Carter-Ihnen was awarded the Military Medal (MM), not the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM)]. Pte Carter-Ihnen is shown wearing a MM medal ribbon as well as his POW identity tag showing his POW number and was presumably sent the MM ribbon in a parcel from the Red Cross. Pte Carter-Ihnen was repatriated to England on 14 January 1919 and arrived back in Australia on 16 May 1919. One of a series of over 400 photographs sent by Australian POWs in German camps to Miss M. E. Chomley, Secretary, Prisoners Department, Australian-British Red Cross Society, London. Original album housed in AWM Research Centre at RC00864, Album image number 288.