"The story of the Australian nurses after the fall of Singapore"--Cover. On 12 February 1942, Singapore was days away from its fall to the Japanese. Hundreds of desperate people scrambled to the docks to flee, among them 65 Australian Army nurses who boarded a coastal freighter, the Vyner Brooke. It was a doomed voyage - Japanese bombers attacked and sank the vessel. Some who survived the shipwreck washed up on Radji Beach, only to be executed by a Japanese patrol. Of these 22 nurses, only Vivian Bullwinkel survived the shootings. She went on to endure three and a half years of internment, starvation and disease with other survivors of the shipwreck. Meticulously researched, On Radji Beach is a moving account of the fate of every nurse who boarded the Vyner Brooke that day.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-345) and index.