A week to go

I am pretty well packed. My pack weighs 6 kg. That's OK.

If you want to read more about the history of the nurses who were on the Vyner Brooke, go to this web site (copy and paste in into Google);

www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/anecdotes/bangka.html

I have been reading books and searching web sites. A lot of them focus on the massacre on Radji beach and Vivian Bullwinkel's survival. But this is only a fraction of the story. The nurses who survived the next 3 1/2 years as prisoners and those who died of starvation, some only weeks before the end of the war, also suffered greatly.

However, for me the real story is the sense of duty, and pride, these nurses had. They always "did their best" in extreme adversity. They even held concerts and sang at times of difficulty.
I am in awe of them and I wish I'd told my Auntie. They are true legends in our Australian history.

Our Auntie, Jean Ashton, was one of the group but she survived. She actually lived to 97! She did a trip back to the island in 1993 with Vivian and others.

We hope to find the places where it happened. However, we don't know what we will find or how it will affect us.

Cheers...........Brian

Our trip is happening

Yes we are going.

My three sisters, Rose, Max and Sue and I are travelling to Banka Island Indonesia.
It is 70 years since 65 nurses boarded the Vyner Brooke at the fall of Singapore. The ship was bombed by the Japanese. Some drowned but most ended up on Banka Island.

Our Auntie was one who survived the next 3 1/2 years. It is an incredible, but tragic, story.

We plan to go to the place where the nurses landed, where some were massacred, and where the rest were held as prisoners of war.

We are not sure how we will go. It may be emotional and upsetting for us. It is the rainy season and so will also be hard travelling.

We are not sure what we are taking on but we will see.