Winnie May Davis (1915 - 1945)

Born 7 Jul 1915 in Ulmarra, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Died 19 Jul 1945 at age 30 in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies

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Biography

Captain Winnie May Davis died whilst a prisoner of war of the Japanese during the Second World War.

• Australian Nurses of the Vyner Brooke

Winnie May Davis was born on July 7, 1915 at Lower Coldstream, near UImarra in the Clarence River district, New South Wales. She was the second daughter and one of four children of James Davis and Laura Ellen Davis (born Lattemore).^[1][2][3] She attended Cowper, then Ulmarra Primary Schools and Grafton High.^[4]

Winnie May was a nurse

Winnie was employed by a dentist in Sydney before commencing nursing training at the War Memorial Hospital in Waverly and obstetric training at Royal Hospital for Women at Paddington.^[4][5] She passed her final nursing exams in 1938.^[6]

In December 1940, Winnie enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service at the Victoria Barracks in Sydney. She was accepted on strength and embarked for Singapore on February 15, 1941 where she was posted to the 2/10th Australian General Hospital in Malaya.^[2][7]

Outdoors portrait of NFX70498 Captain Winnie May Davis, AANS, 10 Australian General Hospital (10 AGH) of Ulmarra, NSW. Photographer: Unknown. Date made: c 1940. Source: Australian War Memorial. (Possibly taken at Ulmarra).

On February 12, 1942, Winnie May, along with 64 other Australian nurses and many civilians, including women and children, was evacuated from Singapore on board the ill-fated Vyner Brooke. The ship was discovered by the Japanese as it was entering the Bangka Strait two days later, bombed and strafed repeatedly, and sank in twenty minutes.^[8] As the ship sank, many nurses were able to board leaky boats and life rafts. Twelve nurses drowned, 22 nurses made it to Bangka Island (an island lying east of Sumatra) but were machine gunned on the beach by the Japanese. The remaining 31 nurses including Winnie May were taken prisoner. Initially, they were kept on Bangka Island but later moved to the Loeboek Linggau Camp on the island of Sumatra.^[2][9][10] Both Bangka Island and Sumatra were then part of the Dutch Colony known in English as "Netherlands East Indies" or "Dutch East Indies" [Indonesian: Hindia Belanda; Dutch: Nederlands(ch)-Indië]. Both are now part of Indonesia.^[11]

Whilst a prisoner of war, Winne succumbed to "Beri Beri" (a deficiency of thiamin) as a result of malnutrition at the hands of her captors, which lead to her death. She passed away on July 19, 1945 in Sumatra just a few months before the end of the war. She was 30 years old.^[2]

Winnie May Davis's name is located at panel 96 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra and at Jakarta War Cemetery, Jakarta, Indonesia.^[12] Her name is also included in a list of prisoners of war at The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Ballarat Botanical Gardens, Lake Wendouree, Victoria which was opened on 6 February 2004 by General Peter Cosgrove AM, MC.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ Birth Index : (NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages : accessed 7 Dec 2023), index entry for WINNIE M DAVIS; Father's Given Names: JAMES, Mother's Given Names: LAURA E; District: ULMARRA; Registration Number: 35389/1915. [Birth Index shows event date=7 July 1915]
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Service Record: NAA: B883, NX70498 DAVIS WINNIE MAY : Service Number - NX70498 : Date of birth - 07 Jul 1915 : Place of birth - COWPER NSW : Place of enlistment - SYDNEY NSW : Next of Kin - DAVIS JAMES
3. ↑ Internment: NAA: A14171, UNKNOWN DAVIS WINNIE MAY. Service Number UNKNOWN Date of Birth: 07-07-1915 Father's Name: DAVIS JAMES Mother's Name: DAVIS LGURA ELLEN
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Book: Eggins, Coralie. (1988) ‘Winnie May Davis’, in Ann Marsh (Comp.) 1988, Davis Family and Descendants: 140 years in Australia 1848 - 1988. Coffs Harbour, NSW: North Coast News Pty. Ltd. ISBN 0 7316 4288 0
5. ↑ Obituary: 1945 'OBITUARY', Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954), 20 September, p. 2. , viewed 07 Dec 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195738486
6. ↑ 1938 'EXAMINATIONS FOR NURSES.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 24 June, p. 6. , viewed 07 Dec 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17486902
7. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs: Department of Veterans' Affairs Nominal roll: NFX70498 Sister Winnie May Davis accessed 28 Feb 2020
8. ↑ 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
9. ↑ Newspaper Article: 1943 'PERSONAL', Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954), 23 October, p. 2. , viewed 07 Dec 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193052214
10. ↑ In Memoriam: 1946 'Family Notices', Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954), 19 July, p. 2. , viewed 07 Dec 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194931849
11. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. (2022, January 16). Dutch East Indies. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:06, January 26, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_East_Indies&oldid=1066061053
12. ↑ Australian War Memorial: Australian War Memorial roll of honour: NFX70498 Sister Winnie May Davis; accessed 28 Feb 2020
13. ↑ Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial: "Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial", database Army Nurses
    Davis, Winifred May; NX70498; Unit / Ship / Squadron: 2/10th A.G.H; Rank: Captain; Held / Captured By: 15 February 1942; Died: 16 July 1945
    https://www.powmemorialballarat.com.au/prisoners-of-war/davis-winifred-may-aka-winnie/ Accessed 8 March 2024

See also:

• Newspaper Article: 1938 'Personal and General', The Methodist (Sydney, NSW : 1892 - 1954), 9 July, p. 9. , viewed 07 Dec 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155354627
• Newspaper Article: 1943 'Ulmarra Nurse Held Prisoner Says Jap Radio', Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954), 11 March, p. 2. , viewed 07 Dec 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article192804931
• Newspaper Article: 1945 'A.I.F. MEN BERSERK', Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955), 17 September, p. 4. (Late Final Extra), viewed 07 Dec 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article272492172