SINGAPORE ORDEAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24214, 4 March 1942, Page 6

SINGAPORE ORDEAL

AUSTRALIAN NURSES SIXTY SAFELY HOME SYDNEY, Feb. 26 Sixty Australian nurses who were transferred from Singapore two days before its fall have arrived safely in Australia. They comprise half the staffs of the 10th and 13th Australian General Hospitals. Another 60. they said, remained in Singapore, The authorities decided who should stay. All the returned nurses are anxious for* news of their comrades, and expressed the hope that they had been safely evacuated before the island fell. The nurses were given only 20 minutes in which to leave th 9 hospital, and most of them arrived in Australia in the same uniforms and wearing their tin hats. These were described by one as "the best friends we've got." The courage of the men left behind, they declared, was superb. Even those severely wounded could always manage a smile. A special tribute was paid to the work of A.I.E. nursing orderlies and also to Sister Forsyth, who was on duty in an upper ward when the hospital received a direct hit. "She never batted an eyelid, and her courage was an example to everyone, » nurse said. During the voyage from Singapore to Batavia the ship was subjected to incessant bombing and_ machine-gun attacks. One direct hit caused 3-* casualties.