Lance Corporal Laurence McCallum served with the Australian Army in Papua New Guinea during WW2.
He wasn’t a drinker but was a smoker. And would exchange his beer rations for cigarettes. To pass away the hours he created a butterfly belt. It was made from butterfly wings and the cellophane from many cigarette packs. He contacted Malaria in PNG and was hospitalised back in Australia towards the end of the war. He presented the butterfly belt to his wife – but she didn’t wear it. Then over the years his children played with it. As time wore on the belt became more and more sentimental to the family. Laurence passed away in 2012 and his daughter, now retired, brought the belt to Ed and Cynthia for framing.
It’s not just a butterfly belt. It represents the hours of a young man, in a foreign country – just wanting to return home. The belt is now preserved for posterity.
