Kathleen Millicent Campbell-Smith (1915)

Born 4 Jan 1915 in Saint Helens, Tasmania, Australia

Biography

Kathleen Millicent 'Molly' Campbell-Smith was born in 4th January 1915 at Saint Helens, Tasmania, Australia.

Kathleen was a nurse

Molly completed nursing training and was registered as a nurse, working in a hospital at Melbourne, Victoria.

Kathleen Campbell-Smith is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Second Australian Imperial Force 1940-1943
2/10th Australian General Hospital

On 4th June 1940, Molly was commissioned as a Nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service. She was posted to the 2/10th Australian General Hospital (2/10th AGH), which embarked on the Queen Mary in January 1941 for Malaya. The 2/10th AGH was deployed to Malacca, Malaya.^[1]

The Imperial Japanese Army invaded Malaya on 8th December and quickly advanced south towards Singapore. The 2/10th, and indeed all units, made strategic withdrawals ahead of the advancing enemy. In January the hospital was set-up in Singapore with more wounded than there were beds. Finally, just days before the final capitulation, the general staff agreed that the nurses had to be evacuated. Molly was evacuated from Singapore on 10th February aboard the Wah Sui as one of six nurses accompanying many wounded. The ship made it to Batavia (Jakarta) and the nurses were eventually repatriated home.^[2]

Molly was discharged from the AANS on 24th July 1943 with her next-of-kin then listed as Walter Symington.

Sources

1. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: VX29696 Lieutenant Kathleen Millicent Campbell-Smith; accessed 29 Feb 2020
2. ↑ Shaw, Ian W. 'On Radji Beach: The Story of the Australian Nurses after the Fall of Singapore'. MacMillan, Sydney, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4050-4024-2