The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (SFX13418) Sister Florence Rebecca Casson, 13th Australian General Hospital, Royal Australian Army Nursing Service, Second World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (SFX13418) Sister Florence Rebecca Casson, 13th Australian General Hospital, Royal Australian Army Nursing Service, Second World War.

SFX13418 Sister Florence Rebecca Casson, 13th Australian General Hospital, Royal Australian Army Nursing Service
Executed 16 February 1942
Photograph: P02783.005; P09909.022

Story delivered 18 October 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sister Florence Rebecca Casson.

Florence Casson was born on 6 March 1908 in Warracknabeal, Victoria, to Henry and Mary Casson. She trained as a nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, completing her examinations in 1934. After this she worked in various country districts in South Australia before becoming matron at the Pinnaroo Hospital. She was working here when she enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 10 March 1941, joining the Australian Army Nursing Service.
Casson was appointed to the 2/13th Australian General Hospital and sent to Singapore later that year, but was in Malaya in 1942 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Once the fall of Singapore became inevitable most Australian personnel were evacuated from the island. Casson was one of 65 Australian nurses who left Singapore aboard the Vyner Brooke on 14 February. Two days later the ship was bombed by the Japanese and many lives were lost. Sister Casson was severely wounded by the blast, which damaged bother her legs, possibly breaking one. She was treated by her fellow nurses before being helped into a raft. Others joined the lifeboats, and those who could swim made for the nearby Banka Island.

Casson’s raft reached the beach and she was tended to. Her wounds were serious, and appeared to have caused nerve damage. Some of the survivors travelled to the nearest port to formally surrender to the
Japanese, but 22 Australian nurses remained on the beach to tend the wounded.

On the morning of 16 February a group of Japanese soldiers arrived, and in three stages ordered the wounded around a headland, where they were killed.

The rest of the survivors were ordered to walk into the sea. Casson, unable to walk, was supported by her fellow nurses. When the water reached the nurses’ waists the Japanese opened fire with machine-guns. Of the 22 Australian nurses ordered into the sea, all but one were killed, including Florence Casson. She was 33 years old.

Sister Casson is remembered on memorial plaques at the Pinnaroo Hospital, at Royal Adelaide Hospital, and on the Obelisk at Pinnaroo. A display in her honour is featured in the Pinnaroo Museum.

Sister Florence Rebecca Casson is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial, and her name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Sister Florence Rebecca Casson, and all those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section