Vivian Bullwinkel AO

Vivian Bullwinkel AO.

Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel was an Australian Army nurse during the World War II.

In February 1942 a ship carrying wounded British soldiers and Australian nurses fled Singapore and was sunk by Japanese forces near Bangka Island.  Survivors were taken to Radji Beach, where the male soldiers were soon executed by Japanese troops. The 22 nurses were then instructed to walk into the sea where they were gunned down by soldiers from the shore.  

Lieutenant-Colonel Bullwinkel was the only survivor and although seriously injured, she was kept alive by women from a nearby village for 13 days.  She spent the next three and a half years in captivity on Bangka Island and in Sumatra.