Holt WJ

Studio portrait of WX7550 Private (Pte) William John (Jack) Holt, 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion. A pastry cook from Palmyra, WA, Pte Holt enlisted on 6 August 1940 and served in Malaya. He was taken prisoner of war (POW) of the Japanese, and whilst working on the Burma-Thailand Railway died of illness on 20 August 1943, aged 40. His wallet, now held at the Australian War Memorial (REL30604), was recovered by a fellow prisoner, Staff Sergeant S E Cameron of 2/19 Battalion, who took it back to Australia after his own release.