Portrait of Lieutenant (Lt) Samuel Edward Lees Stening, RAN Volunteer Reserve, HMAS Perth, ...

Place Asia: Japan, Shikoku, Zentsuji
Accession Number P04017.061
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Print silver gelatin
Maker Unknown
Place made Japan: Shikoku
Date made c July 1942
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Portrait of Lieutenant (Lt) Samuel Edward Lees Stening, RAN Volunteer Reserve, HMAS Perth, Surgeon from Bondi, NSW. He was serving onboard HMAS Perth when it was sunk during the Battle of the Sunda Strait on 1 March 1942. After the sinking, he was captured by the Japanese and held as a prisoner of war (POW) in Zentsuji Camp, Shikoku, Osaka, Japan. Most of the men in the camp were Allied officers captured in the early battles of 1942. The camp was a 'show camp' used by the Japanese for propaganda purposes, but after 1942 conditions worsened. Lt Stening was recovered on 10 September 1945 and returned to Australia where he was awarded the DSC and promoted to Surgeon Lieutenant Commander (Lt Cmdr). He had previously survived the sinking of HMAS Waterhen in the Mediterranean on 30 June 1941. Lt Cmdr Stening later returned to his pediatric practice.