is evidence that during the period, boilersuits were a popular working dress among RAN personnel. Many RAN engineer officers wore white boilersuits most of the time and other officers, commissioned warrant officers and warrant officers also wore them. Two former RAN officers recalled being issued with a white boilersuit twice a year, that these were fastened with four or five press studs and that some had press studs at the wrist, while others did not. Dress regulations for December 1940 state that RAN personnel on "foreign" (tropical) stations were issued with a pair of white canvas shoes to be worn only on those stations. While veterans did not recall being issued with them or seeing them worn, photographs of RAN personnel from the period show some of them wearing white canvas shoes. By 2014, the identity of the unknown sailor had been narrowed, to 50 members of the crew of Sydney. It had previous been reported (2007) that the unknown sailor was most likely one of three engineering officers. Erroneous identification In August 2019, it was reported – but not confirmed officially – by media outlets including Channel 7 News and The West Australian, that the Sydney crew member most likely to have been buried on Christmas Island was Norman Douglas Foster. Foster (service no. F2147), was an Engine Room Artificer (4th Class) – a rank equivalent to Petty Officer; he was born in Perth on 15 April 1913, making him 28 years old at the time of the action in which Sydney was lost. Foster's service record describes him as 5 ft 8 in. (174 cm) tall, with auburn hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. He had joined the RAN on 2 September 1939 (the day before the war began); following training at HMAS Cerberus, Foster had joined the crew of Sydney on 20 February 1941. Formal identification In 2021, DNA testing identified the remains as those of 21-year-old Able Seaman Thomas Welsby Clark. The identity was revealed at the Australian War Memorial on 19 November 2021, the 80th anniversary of the battle. After the announcement of the body's identity, Minister for Veterans' Affairs Andrew Gee noted that Clark is believed to be the only member of Sydney''s crew who managed to reach a life raft after the cruiser sank. See also List of solved missing person cases List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea Citations References