Portrait of VX53060 Lieutenant Beryl Woodbridge (AANS)

Framed portrait of VX53060 Lieutenant (Lt) Beryl Woodbridge, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). A trained nurse before the war, Lt Woodbridge joined the AANS in 1941. She was one of 65 nurses aboard the vessel Vyner Brooke when it was sunk by Japanese bombers on 10 February 1942, and was captured at Banka Island after swimming to shore. Along with other survivors, she was a prisoner of war in Sumatra for the duration of the war. Only 24 of the nurses aboard the Vyner Brooke survived the war and were repatriated to Australia. Along with Vivian Bullwinkel and Betty Jeffry, with whom she was interned, Woodbridge established the Australian Nurses Memorial in Melbourne in 1950.