Bravery in Numbers

Today's blog is one about a woman of service who gave her life for her country. She was one of the victims of a horrendous massacre during WW2 which causes shock upon reading all these years later.

FLORENCE AUBIN SALMON

Florence was born on 20th October 1915, the second child of John Henry Salmon and his wife Florence (nee Aubin). The family lived in Punchbowl a southwestern suburb of Sydney and were members of the Methodist Church.

There is not a great deal on public record about Florence's early life, but we do know she passed her Nurses Registration Board exams whilst at the War Memorial Hospital in Waverley. Originally the private residence and grounds of property owned by Ebenezer Vickery, the estate was donated as a war hospital in 1919 opening its doors to its first patients after internal modifications in 1921.

War Memorial Hospital Waverley - photograph author's own 

Florence enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service at Victoria Barracks in Sydney in February 1941 for home service and was placed at Bathurst in the Central West of NSW. In May 1941 she was called up as a reinforcement for the 2/10th Australian General Hospital (AGH) that was stationed in Malacca in Malaya. Florence sailed to Singapore on the 24th of July and once she arrived, she joined her new unit at Malacca. At times she was seconded to work with the Casualty Clearing Station. She was with the 2/10th AGH when most of the staff were evacuated to Singapore in late January 1942 due to the advance of the Japanese invasion force.

Florence Aubin Salmon - Wikitree from AWM records

On the 8th of February with surrender facing them it was decided to move the nurses and as many casualties aboard any vessels they could find. By the 10th of February two ships were loaded with the remaining 65 nurses ordered to be evacuated aboard the SS Vyner Brooke.

Group of nurses from Australian General Hospital - AWM 

The ship built to carry 12 passengers soon became incredibly overcrowded with more than that number of people plus the nurses. Soon after departure the vessel was steered into a minefield and forced to stop for the night. The next night they reached the Banka Strait. At this time, it came under fire and after taking three direct hits began to sink and the order was given to abandon ship.

Pandemonium broke out on board as no sooner had survivors entered the sea they were picked out by enemy pilots. All night long exhausted survivors from the Vyner Brooke and other shipwrecks gathered on Radji Beach on Banka Island. The numbers had dwindled to 60 men and women and 22 nurses. A fierce gun battle took place out at sea and later a lifeboat carrying British servicemen came ashore. The number of survivors then increased to 100.

The group decided to surrender to the Japanese and a small group left to search for the enemy. Other women left to search for food. The nurses remained with the injured.

Soon after the Japanese soldiers arrived. They ordered half the men to stand and marched them at bayonet point down to the beach and out of sight. A few minutes later they returned for the remaining men.

Upon their return the Japanese soldiers sat down, cleaned their bayonets and when they had finished, sexually assaulted most of the nurses (this fact only coming to light in 2019 after being suppressed by the Government of the day). Afterwards they motioned for the women to stand up and soon the soldiers began pushing them towards the surf. The women stood in a straight line facing the horizon still wearing their Red Cross emblems on their sleeves which were supposedly to protect them. They didn’t cry, whimper or attempt to run away. When they reached waist deep water the Japanese opened fire with a machine gun and mowed them down. The soldiers then went back and bayonetted the remaining injured patients.

We have such a detailed account of the atrocity due to the one eyewitness who survived, Vivian Bullwinkel, who although nursing a wound from being shot in the diaphragm and playing "dead" made her way into the nearby springs and was found by an Englishman. They were both captured and taken as Prisoners of War but only Vivian survived after spending three years in the camp. She gave evidence at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in 1947.

This massacre was one of the most horrific of the War as it was perpetrated outside of battle and upon those who could not defend themselves.

A memorial service was held at the War Memorial Hospital on 28th October 1945 for Florence Salmon and another nurse who had also graduated from the Hospital. A "Window of Memory" dedicated to nurses is to be found at the Hospital.

Florence Aubin Salmon from memorial at War Memorial Hospital - NSW War Memorial register

Florence is dedicated on the grave of her parents in the Methodist area of Rookwood not far from the Catholic office.

    

Remembered on parent's grave - photograph author's own

The family's suffering only increased when after losing their daughter in such horrific circumstances aged just 26, their son Leonard was reported "lost at sea" on the HMAS Centaur some 80 years ago in May 1943 at the age of 30. The merchant vessel that had been converted to a hospital ship was downed by a torpedo just near Moreton Island Queensland with most losing their lives.

Detail of memorial to children on parent's grave - photograph author's own

Last year the Australian College of Nursing Foundation announced it was establishing a scholarship in the name of each of the 21 nurses who died in the Bangka Island Massacre, in addition to leading the fundraising to erect a sculpture of Vivian Bullwinkel in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial (AWM). That sculpture was recently unveiled at the AWM, the first depicting a woman to be erected there. I know it won't be the last.

Model for Vivian Bullwinkel statue now completed and recently unveiled - AWM

Once again, I have to say, War has no winners, only losers.

They sacrificed their lives for ours. Their bravery lives on.

Lest We Forget

I have drawn on a number of references for today's blog: Ancestry.com, AWM files, "Brave Women" by Dorothy Angell, Wikipedia and other sources.

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