Head-and-shoulders carved oak bust of an anonymous young Royal Marine private of Word War II, with its original wooden stand or pedestal, which is inscribed '1939-1945' with the Royal Marines crest.

The figure looks forward, with neatly combed short hair, and wears a uniform with its stand-up collar and shoulder straps including the raised leters 'RM'. It is signed on the back 'A.L.D. 1944'.

This is one of a pair of such heads by the same sculptor, the other being a 'Sailor' (SCU0068). He began carving them both in 1944 while still a wartime Major in the Royal Marines, in London, for submission to the War Artists Advisory Committee, who approved and bought them on completion. They were transferred on permanent loan from the Imperial War Museum in November 1947.

Durst (1883-1970) was a carver of religious subjects, figures and animals, and wood engraver. He served in the Royal Marines 1902–13 and 1914–18, studied at the Central School of Art under Richard Garbe 1913 and 1920, and at Chartres, and was Curator of the Watts Museum, Compton, 1919–20. He started to practise as a sculptor in 1920, mainly by direct carving in stone, wood and ivory. He also taught wood-carving at the RCA, 1925–40, and (after returning to the Marines, 1940-44) from 1945 to 1948. He was a member of the London Group, 1927–51, and had his first one-man exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in 1930. He carved figures for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1931) and for a number of churches, including the west front of Peterborough Cathedral. His book 'Wood Carving' was published in 1938.