Sisters Under Fire

The heroic accounts of Australian Army Nursing Sisters Margaret Anderson and Vera Torney who survived the perilous evacuation of Singapore in 1942.

The nursing profession is one historically filled with everyday heroes; men and women engaged in challenging work that can often prove the difference between life and death. Nursing Sisters Margaret Anderson and Vera Torney of the 2/13th Australian General Hospital felt far from heroic as they boarded the converted cargo ship Empire Star in 1942 following a hastily contrived and ultimately perilous plan to evacuate the last Australian nurses from Singapore after Japanese occupation. The courageous and selfless actions of Sisters Anderson and Torney while under fire on a nightmare voyage would deservedly earn them the highest civilian awards for bravery.

Without exception, all the nurses had requested to stay and tend to their wounded patients but were ordered to evacuate on three ships – the Wah Sui, Empire Star, and the ill-fated Vyner Brooke. The tragic, harrowing story of the nurses evacuating on the Vyner Brooke is also recounted, with 21 survivors of the sinking later shot down in cold blood on Banka Island. Against the odds, there was a solitary survivor of the massacre: Sister Vivian Bullwinkel.

In addition to saluting two courageous Australian war nurses, this deeply-researched book pays respectful homage to all the Australian nurses who lost their lives during the hurried evacuation of Singapore and those who survived only to become prisoners of the Japanese for more than three desperate years.