Cigarette Box

It was usual for soldiers to pick up or purchase souvenirs of the places they served, even in wartime. The 1/4th Battalion had served in Gaza since early in 1917. His battalion had last fought in September 1918 at Megiddo, South of Nazareth, though they then marched as far as Beirut before the Turkish Armistice in October. Though the two territorial Battalions, 1/4th and 1/5th, then sailed for Egypt, their time in the East was not over. There was plenty of time to collect souvenirs such as this box, made of cedar of Lebanon and marked with the year 1919 AD and the Year of the Prophet, 1335. When Private Plumstead eventually came home it is not recorded, but one of his comrades in the 1/4th, Sergeant H.W. Sean, did not return to Norwich until 11th November 1919, one year exactly after the war ended.