Friday 7 January 2011

Book - While History Passed

I was pleased to find this book in the Barwon Heads Bookshop in Victoria last week. The book written by Jessie Simons was first published in 1954 and tells the story of the Australian nurses evacuated on the Vyner Brooke on the 12th of February 1942 three days before the fall of Singapore. 65 nurses were evacuated on the ship that was bombed and sunk with the nurses who found their way to Rahdji Beach then machine gunned and bayoneted after surrendering to the Japanese troops on Muntock island. The famous Vivian Bullwinkle was one of those nurses who survived the massacre. Jessie Simons was one of the nurses on the ship and this is her story. I look forward to reading the book. It is amazing what one can find in second hand book shops.