Kathleen Margaret NEUSS

Kathleen Margaret NEUSS. Sister (Lieutenant) NFX70527 AANS attached to 10th Australian General Hospital. Born 16 October 1911 at Ballarat Executed (Murdered) 16 February 1942 aged 30 by the Japanese on Radji beach at Bangka Island shortly after surviving the sinking of the Steam Ship, Vyner Brooke. Daughter of John Henry and Mary Catherine Neuss, of Inverell, New South Wales, Australia.
She and sixty-four Australian nurses, wounded service men and 250 civilian men, women and children were evacuated on Vyner Brooke from Singapore on the 12 February 1942. The ship was bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft of Bangka island east of Sumatra on the 14 February 1942. Some of the survivors reached the island only to be captured by the Imperial Japanese Army Some were imprisoned in Palembang and Muntok POW camps others were massacred including twenty-one nurses. On the 16 February 1942 the nurses were ordered to march into the sea and stand in a row where they were shot from behind. She was aged 30. Only one nurse survived, Sister Vivian Bullwinkel.
Some notes from her Service Record. She enlisted 17 December 1940 in Emergency Unit at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, N.S.W. aged 28. Civilian occupation, nurse. She embarked on Queen Mary with the 10th Australian General Hospital on the 3 February 1941 disembarked at Singapore 18 February. Embarked Singapore bound for Australia 12 February 1942. Reported missing 16 February 1942. Later reported missing, believed killed on or after the 11 February 1942. Another entry on her record shows 14 February POW S.W.P.A. Presumed to be dead (Malaya)
Last entry 16 February POW S.W.P.A. Deceased while POW EXECUTED by JAPS (see her army record)
Commemorated on the Singapore Memorial, Singapore



Virtual War Memorial Australia. https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/641277