Informal portrait of VX38812 Matron Olive Dorothy Paschke and a number of nurses of the 2/10th ...

Informal portrait of VX38812 Matron Olive Dorothy Paschke and a number of nurses of the 2/10th Australian General Hospital (AGH), known as the 10th AGH at the time. Matron Paschke, five other nurses and two small children were last seen drifting out to sea on a raft following the sinking of the Vyner Brooke. Sixty five Australian nurses and over 250 civilian men, women and children evacuated on the Vyner Brooke from Singapore three days before the fall of Malaya. The Vyner Brooke was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sunk in Banka Strait on 14 February 1942. Of the sixty five nurses, thirty two survived the sinking and were taken Prisoner of War (POW) of which eight later died in captivity, another twenty two also survived the sinking and were washed ashore on Radji Beach, Banka Island where they surrendered to the Japanese along with twenty five British soldiers. On 16 February 1942 the group was massacred, the soldiers were bayoneted and the nurses were ordered to march into the sea where they were shot. Only Sister Vivian Bullwinkel and a British soldier survived the massacre. Both were taken POW, but only Sister Bullwinkel survived the war.