Australian Nurses of the Vyner Brooke
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Esther Sarah Jean Stewart |
Sister Esther Sarah Jean Stewart was born on 15th October 1904 at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She was a daughter of Charles Stewart and Sarah Mann.[1]
Jean completed her training and was registered as a nurse.[2]
Jean enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service and was posted to the 2/10th Australian General Hospital in Malaya. Her next-of-kin was listed as Andrew Muir.[3] 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.[2]Along with twenty of her nursing friends who also washed up on the beach, Jean was murdered – machine gunned in the back – by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army on 16th February 1942 right there on Radji Beach in what has become known as the Bangka Island Massacre.
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Categories: Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory | Australia, Nurses | 2nd 10th General Hospital, Australian Army, World War II | Killed in Action, Australia, World War II