Sister
Janet
(Jenny)
Kerr
Born in Monteagle, New South Wales, Australia
Ancestors 
Daughter of John J Kerr
and Ida Maud (Ellwood) Kerr
Sister of
Joseph Kenneth Kerr
Died
at age 31
in Bangka Island, Nederlandsch-Indië
Profile last modified
| Created 1 Mar 2020
This page has been accessed 475 times.
Australian Nurses of the Vyner Brooke
Biography
|
| Janet 'Jenny' Kerr |
Janet 'Jenny' Kerr was born on 8th August 1910 at Monteagle via Young, New South Wales, Australia. She was a daughter of John J Kerr and Ida Maud Ellwood.[1]
Jenny was a nurse
Jenny completed her nursing training and was registered as a nurse.
On 19th August 1941, Jenny enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) and was posted to the 2/13th Australian General Hospital, then deployed in Johor, Malaya.[2] Along with 64 other Australian nurses and many civilians, including women and children, Florence was evacuated from Singapore on 12th February aboard 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.[3]
Sister Jenny Kerr was killed in action at Bangka Island during the Second World War.
Jenny was murdered by Japanese soldiers on 16th February 1942 at Bangka Island, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia). Janet Kerr's name is located at panel 96 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra and at Kranji War Cemetery, SIngapore.[4]
Jenny has been honoured through a memorial on the main street of Woodstock, near Young, New South Wales.
Sources
- ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #45770/1910
- ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: NFX76279 Sister Janet Kerr; accessed 1 Mar 2020
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Australia War Memorial roll of honour: NFX76279 Sister Janet Kerr; accessed 1 Mar 2020
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