Returned Nurses RSL Sub-branch
Newspaper - Newspaper clipping, The Age, Wartime nurse reveals brothel order, Saturday 12 August 1995
... ...Major Gideon Jacobs...In brief stories do not appear relevant WWII WW2 13th Australian General Hospital Major Gideon Jacobs Royal Marines Indonesians Dutch A large newspaper clipping consisting of a large black and white photo with a story of four columns of text underneath, with a column of brief stories to the right. ...
Main story
Mrs Wilma Young (nee Oram) is speaking for the first time publicly about certain happenings during World War Two, when she and other Australian Nurses were held as POWs in Sumatra. Of the 65 nurses who fled from Singapore on the Vyner Brooke in February 1942, 54 made it to Banka Island after the ship was bombed, with 21 being massacred on a beach. Over the next three years the remaining nurses were imprisonesd by the Japanese in a series of camps in Sumatra and on Banka Island, before being liberated.
The group of surviving nurses had not spoken of certain events publicly before, but at 78 Mrs Wilma Young has decided to.
The Japanese tried to force the nurses into participating in a makeshift brothel, or 'club' as the Japanese called it. The instructions were for four nurses to go to the 'club', but instead 28 went. They made themselves as horrible as they could, and made use of their time there by stealing sugar, toilet paper and anything else they could. Eventually four women were pressured into staying behind, but they were able to hold out against the Japanese. Eventually the Japanese gave up on this idea.
The Japanese' treatment of the the nurses, as well as the other women and children in the camp was brutal. Punishments could include being made to stand out in the punishing sun for hours without a hat, or being slapped on each side of the face, hard enough to be knocked over. The daily food rations consisted of a cup of rice, sometimes supplemented palm oil, rotten vegetables or similar. Daily work for the nurses included caring for the sick prisoners, rarely with medicinal aid.
In brief stories do not appear relevantA large newspaper clipping consisting of a large black and white photo with a story of four columns of text underneath, with a column of brief stories to the right. The black and photo features an older woman looking at a photo of a young woman in uniform. The story is written by John Lahey.wwii, ww2, 13th australian general hospital, major gideon jacobs, royal marines, indonesians, dutch