The article documents Vivian Statham being recognised by the City of Melville Bicentennial Subcommittee of Ex-Service Associations. Vivian was asked to deliver a requiem at the following year's Anzac service, during which a clock tower would be dedicated to those who served in the war. The article is also biographical, detailing Vivian's experiences 45 years before as, while serving with the Australian Army Nursing Service, the ship she and other nurses were being evacuated on was sunk by the Japanese. Vivian was part of a group that survived to make it shore, where they and a group of English servicemen decided to give themselves up to the Japanese. She was one of twenty-one nurses who were then shot, along with the bayoneting of the English servicemen. Vivian survived but ultimately became a POW for the next three and a half years. After returning to Australia Vivian gave evidence at the War Crime Trials in Tokyo in 1946-47. More recently Vivian a member or representative of many organisations and keeps herself busy.A newspaper clipping with six columns of text and a black and white photo of an smiling older woman centred under the title and subtitleww2, wwll, banka island, japanese, sumatra, vivian bullwinkel, vivian statham (nee bullwinkel), 13th australian general hospital, johore bahru, singapore, vyner brooke, vyner brook

The article details the war time recollections of Vivian Bullwinkel, sole survivor of the Japanese massacre of Australian nurses in 1942. The Australian Army nurses, with 200 civilians, were aboard the SS Vyner Brook when the Japanese bombed and sank the ship. After ten hours, twenty four nurses survived to make it ashore on Banka Island. The Japanese took them prisoner and then proceeded to shoot them all, after first bayoneting forty Bristish prisoners. Vivian was shot in the side and pretended she was dead. Vivian credits her initial survival to the duty she felt to a fellow survivor of the massacre, a British man. They then had to make the decision that giving themselves up to the Japanese was their best chance of survival. After threes years as a POW Vivian had lost alot of weight and seen many die, but she had continued to care for those that were her patients. More than 50 years later Vivian is to return to Banka Island as and honoured guest of Indonesia, to chose the site of of a memorial to her dead comrades. Vivian avoids talking in detail about her POW experiences but she does have strong views on selling Australian land to Japanese investors. The Japanese government had recently apologised for the atrocities they committed, but Vivian believes the apology was not specific enough. The first page of a magazine article including two columns of text and a colour reproduction of a painting of a woman in nurse's uniform, page one of two'N22' [blue ink, top right]ww2, wwii, red cross, frank statham, dutch east indies, anzac day

The article details the war time recollections of Vivian Bullwinkel, sole survivor of the Japanese massacre of Australian nurses in 1942. The Australian Army nurses, with 200 civilians, were aboard the SS Vyner Brook when the Japanese bombed and sank the ship. After ten hours, twenty four nurses survived to make it ashore on Banka Island. The Japanese took them prisoner and then proceeded to shoot them all, after first bayoneting forty Bristish prisoners. Vivian was shot in the side and pretended she was dead. Vivian credits her initial survival to the duty she felt to a fellow survivor of the massacre, a British man. They then had to make the decision that giving themselves up to the Japanese was their best chance of survival. After threes years as a POW Vivian had lost alot of weight and seen many die, but she had continued to care for those that were her patients. More than 50 years later Vivian is to return to Banka Island as and honoured guest of Indonesia, to chose the site of of a memorial to her dead comrades. Vivian avoids talking in detail about her POW experiences but she does have strong views on selling Australian land to Japanese investors. The Japanese government had recently apologised for the atrocities they committed, but Vivian believes the apology was not specific enough. Second page of a magazine clipping consisting of three columns of text under a large colour photo of an older man and woman leaning into each other, page two of twoww2, wwii, red cross, frank statham, dutch east indies, anzac day