Brave Women 3 - Vivian Bullwinkel Poem by Paul Warren

In 1941 a Kapunda nurse decided to join the Australian Army at War
She wanted to show the Anzac Spirit as it had been done before
She was posted in the Malay Peninsula as the Imperial Japanese landed
As they swept down the country on Singapore they were stranded
In February 1942 the last group of nurses were evacuated
On the SS Vyner Brooke out to sea the Japanese had waited

They attacked from the sun and the ship went down
And Vivian drifted for hours on the Banka Strait around
Until she landed on Banka Island beach in the morning
Finding the other nurses then the Japanese came without a warning
They made them wade into the sea and machine gunned them
With no mercy shown the nurses whom themselves could not defend

Vivian was badly wounded and amongst the others feigned death
When the Japanese went she waded into the shore the last one left
With another wounded British soldier they hid from the Japanese
Fearing that if the Japanese knew they had survived it would not please
The British soldier died and she surrendered keeping the secret in safety made
So three years a prisoner before the war ended surviving this evil grade

In the end at war crimes trials she told the evil story
That did not cover those Japanese soldiers in any glory
After her heroic times she continued her nursing career
In the military and civilian life with an OA and MBE no fear
Her life was filled with philanthropy a great lady it is given
Passing on in 2000 a great Australian in her way of living!

© Paul Warren Poetry