Five: Private E. M. Mainard, 2/7th Battalion, Australian Army, who was killed in action in New Guinea in August 1943

1939-45 Star; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Australia Service Medal 1939-45, all officially inscribed, ‘VX. 53915 E. M. Mainard’, extremely fine (5) £400-500

Edmund Miles Mainard was born in Ballarat, Victoria in September 1919 and enlisted in the Australian Army at Royal Park in April 1941. Subsequently posted to the 2/7th Battalion, he was killed in action in New Guinea on 25 August 1943, as his battalion advanced from Wau to Salamaua. Aged 23 years, he was buried in the Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea; sold with four original wartime photographs, including one of the recipient’s original gravesite.