December 1, 2019
Hello ,
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week.
It takes little thought to realize I have more blessings than I could count, that I'm truly one of the most privileged people on the planet. And that most of my good fortune has befallen me through an accident of birth. It's humbling.
I'm renewing my commitment to mindfulness, to being mindful of the abundance I enjoy, mindful to be generous with all that I've been given and to use my gifts in service to others.
To that end, I will get on with it here and offer you a story worth your time!
Is This A Face You Would Follow?
Is this the face of a strong, courageous woman? A person you would want at your side in the most dire circumstances? Someone shrewd, high-powered
and inspiring?
I've become aware that in writing these newsletters featuring women, I am most often drawn to picking images where the woman looks the most attractive and vibrant. Those photos almost always show a young woman, an attractive woman, a face that will capture eyes.
This is the face of Vivian Bullwinkel, an Australian nurse who pioneered advances in the nursing profession at a time when women's work wasn't highly respected or rewarded.
She helped drive the move from hospital-based training to university educated nurses, and led efforts for better pay and working conditions.
Earlier in her career she had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Australian Army. As a civilian she also held positions of power with important titles, Director of Fairfield Hospital in Melbourne and President of of the College of Nursing, in which she used her wisdom and skill in service to others.
Vivian established nursing scholarships. She rescued war orphans, evacuating children from the conflict in Vietnam and supervising their medical care and adoption by Australian families.
Before those accomplishments, Vivian was the sole survivor of a World War II massacre on Banka Island east of Sumatra in 1942, and lived through three-and-a-half years of brutal prison camp. The one portrayed by the film Paradise Road (1997) starring Cate Blanchett.
I believe the above photo shows Vivian (right) and another Australian nurse in the prison camp, though I haven't been able to positively identify the women shown.
At the beginning of WWII, Vivian volunteered for army nursing and shipped out to Singapore. Five months later as the Japanese advanced, she and 64 other nurses were evacuated on a small freighter bound for Sumatra or Java.
The boat avoided Japanese warships and aircraft for nearly two days until taking three direct bomb hits in the strait between Sumatra and Bangka Island. The order to abandon ship came amid pandemonium, as some 300 people, mostly civilians boarded lifeboats or jumped into the water.
Vivian climbed down a rope ladder and slipped into the sea, as enemy planes returned to strafe survivors. She came up for air and swam toward a partially submerged lifeboat where she hung on until dark, then managed to make it to the shore of Bangka Island.
This shipwreck photographed by is purported to be the sunken
The next morning she discovered only 22 of the 64 nurses had made it to the beach. Forty-eight hours later Japanese troops showed up and told the women to line up on the beach.
As the soldiers motioned and pushed them to walk into the sea, the women knew it was useless to resist or run. When the water reached waist high, the soldiers fired their machine guns.
"They just swept up and down the line and the girls fell one after another," Vivian said. "I was towards the end of the line and the bullet that hit me struck me at the waist and just went straight through."
She went down with the shot, falling into the waves and swallowing salt-water. Floating there, realizing she was alive, Vivian made up her mind to survive and tell the story. She could not swim, but floated face down and took breathes of air when necessary until the waves washed her onto the beach.
She told the War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo in 1946 that she lay in the sand pretending to be dead for some time. "All was quiet and then I got up. The Japanese had all disappeared."
Vivian dressed her wound, which amazingly had missed her vital organs and blood vessels.
She survived a week on the island before deciding to surrender at an internment camp. She did not speak of the massacre and hid the bullet holes in her dress. (photo at left)
At the camp Vivian discovered a number of other nurses had survived the shipwreck, landing on a different beach. Together they were loaded on a ship two weeks later and transported to POW camps on Sumatra.
Vivian remained a prisoner of war for three years and a half, where she survived beatings, hard labor and starvation.
The nurses did their best to help other prisoners in the camp. “We had nothing, literally nothing to care for our patients with,” Vivian recalled. “The hospital [was] just a hut, roof-leaf, earthen floor and bamboo and bench on a side. No mattresses or linen, or anything like that. Nothing.”
Still Vivian's resolve to stay alive did not waver. Australian nurse Wilma Orem said Vivian was a light among the POWs. “Vivian was a stalwart in the camp and everybody admired her for what she did.”
Vivian led by example, not giving into negative thoughts or ruminating about the past. Part of her resilience was her intuitive knowledge that it was important to put conscious distance between the problem and the present moment.
(Below: Australian Nurses from the original Singapore group who survived until liberation in 1945.)
Vivian Bullwinkel was determined to live so those who died in the Bangka Massacre would not be forgotten and the killers would be punished.
Later, she helped raise money for a living memorial to nurses who perished in war time. And 50-years after the massacre she returned to Bangka Island and helped unveil a shrine in honor of the nurses who died there.
Vivian Bullwinkel Statham continued to be an example of courage, inspiration and service to others, living a long full life to the age of 84.
A remarkable woman, behind unremarkable face. Let me know what you think. Maybe this face thing is only becoming important to me because my own face is aging.
As I count down to pub day January 8th, I'll be sharing interesting tidbits about the book and related topics. If you know anyone who might be interested, I'd love it if you'd forward this email to them.
A study guide for classroom use will soon be available, which can also be used for book groups. If your book group reads any of my books, I am happy to visit for questions and discussion in person or via Skype. Reply to this email to set up a date.
For those of you in Whatcom County, mark you calendar! I've just confirmed at date at Village books.
Friday, February 1st at 7pm
Bellingham, WA
I look forward to seeing you there!
Read a great book? Have a burning question? Let me know. If you know someone who might enjoy my newsletter or books, please forward this e-mail. I will never spam you or sell your email address, you can unsubscribe anytime
at the link below.
To find out more about my books, how I help students, teachers, librarians and writers visit my website at www.MaryCronkFarrell.com.
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