Florence Aubin Salmon (1915 - 1942)

Ancestors

Australian Nurses of the Vyner Brooke

Biography

Florence Salmon

Sister Florence Aubin Salmon was born on 20th October 1915 at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was a daughter of John Salmon and Florence Aubin.^[1]

Florence completed her training and was registered as a nurse.

On 9th May 1941, Florence enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service and was posted to the 2/10th Australian General Hospital in 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]

Florence landed on Radji Beach, Bangka Island, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia). Together with twenty fellow nurses from the Vyner Brooke, Florence was murdered – machine gunned in the back – by Japanese soldiers on 16th February 1942 at Bangka Island, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia). Florence Aubin Salmon's name is located at panel 96 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra and at Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore.^[4]

Florence's brother, Leonard, was killed when the AHS Centaur was criminally torpedoed by a Japanese submarine eighteen months later off the Queensland coast.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #41070/1915
2. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: NFX70991 Sister Florence Aubin Salmon; accessed 28 Feb 2020
3. ↑ 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
4. ↑ Australian War Memorial roll of honour: NFX70991 Sister Florence Aubin Salmon; accessed 28 Feb 2020