Digger's Iraq uniform goes on display
January 3, 2008 - 1:39PM
Source: ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 131036.htm
The combat uniform of a young Australian soldier who served in Iraq has gone on display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Private Christopher Donovan was overwhelmed this morning as he saw his uniform on show for the first time. It is the first Australian uniform worn in Iraq to go on display.
The 23-year-old has served in Iraq twice and says he is grateful his battle fatigues have been immortalised.
"Obviously it's a great honour, you can't beat it really," he said.
Private Donovan says the uniform was both hot and heavy.
"When we were in the choppers going in, they measured [the temperature] in the chopper at 63 degrees," he said.
"Especially with the guns, it's up to 20, 25 kilos in the actual rounds themselves, so we're carrying a fair bit of weight over there.
"It's just part of the job."
AWM head of gallery development Carol Cartwright says it is important to have the uniform on display.
"Charles Bean collected Private Giles' uniform back in 1917, it formed the first part of the original collection of the War Memorial and it's the story we tell about a typical Australian soldier," she said.
"We use a series of these uniforms which have been taken from different conflicts as a comparative on changes in technology and how we do things.
"Chris having just returned from Iraq is a current everyday soldier and people want to know about that."
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its not exactly the most exiting story but its cool none the less,i bet pvt Donovan is bloody happy about it,it would be a great honour to have your uniform on display in the war memorial.
looks like brother estapol will be doing a runner to the war memorial with his digital camera for some nice reference pics...lol
