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Female POW's and Fatalities in WW2

Discussion in 'WWII General' started by Fred Wilson, Nov 29, 2015.

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  1. Fred Wilson

    Fred Wilson "The" Rogue of Rogues

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    America Fact vs Fiction: The role about women in WWW went way beyond Rosie and the Riveter. (TV Episode.)

    Some interesting facts came out. I would like to see this develop into a good information resource.

    This is an American TV Series so I am not sure if this information applied to British & Commonwealth forces as well.
    - I seriously doubt they thought to be inclusive of SOE or OSS Female Casualties.

    It stated that some 500 women fatalities occurred in WW2 - the tone of the discussion was that these were all combat zone losses.
    - Not industrial accidents on the Home Front.

    16 of these female fatalities were Nurses killed by enemy action.

    SOME female POW's were fatalities - but no statistics were provided and they did not clarify the information.

    I suspect most Allied POW's and losses would have been in Japanese POW Camps. Correct?

    Is there any information on European / North African Theatres of War regarding female POW Statistics and fatal casualties?

    It would be interesting to know how many losses were in which theatre of war. Pacific / SEAC / North Africa / Europe.

    It would also be interesting to delve into Female POW and fatal Casualties on the Eastern Front, because women were there in substantial numbers, front and center in the combat zones.
    - There were 500.000 women in the regular Red Army and I am not talking about rear jobs...
    - The Russians had Female Tank units, Artillery units, Infantry units, Signals units etc. in addition to Combat PIlots and, presumably, crew.

    Detailed information would be greatly appreciated!
    ________________

    Relevant Threads here:

    Brave Women of the South Pacific area
    The Only Female VC
    Only Female POW At Battle OF Arnhem
    Was Carole Lombard America's First Female Casualty of WWII?
    Women in the 6888th Battalion
    Women Pilots K.I.A. WWII
    Night Witches - Russian female combat pilots of 46th Night Bombers Guards Regiment
    Role played by Soviet women in defeating the Nazis
    ________________

    Relevant Threads on our sister form: http://ww2talk.com
    in particular in it's "The Women of WW2" Forum. See: http://ww2talk.com/forums/forum/34-the-women-of-ww2/

    Europe's only all-female WW2 internment camp remembered
    Female War Grave Dieppe
    Female Grave Wants - Italy
    Female POW at battle of Arnhem
    Female war graves - Yorkshire Polish Female Victims of Nazis
     
    Fred Wilson, Nov 29, 2015
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  2. LRusso216

    LRusso216 Graybeard Staff Member

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    I never gave this much thought Fred. Came across this bit of information:


    Often ignored by history is the story of the women prisoners of war taken captive during World War Two. Sixty seven Army nurses and sixteen Navy nurses spent three years as prisoners of the Japanese. Many were captured when Corregidor fell in 1942 and were subsequently transported to the Santo Tomas Internment camp in Manila, in the Philippines. Santo Tomas was not liberated until February of 1945. Five Navy nurses were captured on Guam and interned in a military prison in Japan.

    Here is a rare WWII poster featuring the Nurses on Corregidor in a Japanese POW camp. One seriously doubts that they would be in whites with red and blue capes while prisoners but the point was being made to appeal to defense workers.
    [​IMG]



    Two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 5 Navy nurses on Guam were taken prisoner by the Japanese. Lieutenants (jg) Leona Jackson, Lorraine Christiansen, Virginia Fogerty and Doris Yetter, under the command of Chief Nurse Marion Olds. Later in 1942 their captors transported them to Japan. They were held for three months in Zentsuji Prison on Shikoku Island and were then moved to Eastern Lodge in Kobe. They were repatriated in August of 1942.

    Clara Gordon Main, a stewardess on the SS President Harrison, captured by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, while rescuing U.S. Marines from China, was among the first American Prisoners of War.
    For more about women in the U.S. Maritime Service please visit: http://www.usmm.org/women.html

    In May of 1943 Navy Lieutenants (jg) Mary Chapman, Bertha Evans, Helen Gorzelanski, Mary Harrington, Margaret Nash, Goldie O'Haver, Eldene Paige, Susie Pitcher, Dorothy Still and C. Edwina Todd, under the command of Chief Nurse Laura Cobb, were sent to the prison camp at Los Banos. They established an infirmary although they had virtually no medicine or supplies and continued to nurse the sick until Los Banos was liberated in February of 1945.

    The new book featured below is quite high on my recommended reading list. It is heartwarming and at the same time heartbreaking. Told in a style that puts the reader directly into the lives of these valiant nurses - it takes you on a journey through the horrors of World War Two in the Pacific - as if you were there. The author draws you into the Malinta Tunnel underground hospital on Corregidor and describes the almost superhuman endurance of the military nurses working there to save their patients - and she does it with balanced style. She reveals their triumphs and their humor, along with the dreary and miserable conditions under which they worked. When the Japanese capture the nurses and send them to Santo Tomas internment camp you journey with them through their three years as prisoners and their ultimate liberation.
    The author, Dr Elizabeth Norman, has done a remarkable job - using interviews, diaries, letters, and a wealth of research - in telling this story that has been hidden by history.

    [​IMG]We Band of Angels Elizabeth Norman.The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese. The only group of American military women captured and imprisoned by an enemy. For excerpts, reviews, photos and a timeline for this particular book: (Note - this will open a new browser window, to return simply close it.) Book Info
    For more of the story of one of the former prisoners -1st Lt. Frankie T. Lewey, USANC - please visit Lt. Lewey
    In Europe Lt Reba Whittle, (later Tobiason), Army Nurse Corps, was flying on an air evac mission when the plane was shot down by the Germans in September 1944. . She and her crew were captured and imprisoned. Lt Whittle was wounded yet performed nursing duties for the prisoners in the camp. They were repatriated to Switzerland. Lt Whittle was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. At the time of her capture she had flown over forty missions. Her injuries subsequently disqualified her from flying and her status as a POW was not revealed until much later.

    In Europe U.S.-born Mildred Harnack-Fish, a German Resistance fighter was captured, interned, and executed in Berlin's Plotzense Prison in 1943.

    Agnes Newton Keith was imprisoned in several Japanese camps from 1941 until the end of the war. Her story was told in the movie "Three Came Home" starring Claudette Colbert.

    http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/prisoners.html

    Check here too http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent?file=ML_whittle_bkp
     
    LRusso216, Nov 29, 2015
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  3. CAC

    CAC Ace of Spades

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    There were Australian nurses captured...they were told to walk into the sea where they were machine gunned...
     
    CAC, Nov 29, 2015
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  4. Fred Wilson

    Fred Wilson "The" Rogue of Rogues

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    Fred Wilson, Nov 29, 2015
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  5. Fred Wilson

    Fred Wilson "The" Rogue of Rogues

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    The Fall of Singapore
    See: http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/japadvance/leave.html

    'ordered to leave'

    Fearing for the safety of the nurses, General Bennett ordered their evacuation from the island.
    Although reluctant to leave when there was so much work to be done, 59 Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) nurses and physiotherapists left Singapore on the Empire Star on 11 February.
    The ship carried more than 2000 evacuees, including civilians. Japanese bombers attacked the ship the next day.
    Two of the nursing sisters who dragged wounded men to safety were decorated for their courage.
    Sister Margaret Anderson was awarded the George Medal for her actions and Sister Vera Torney was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
    Sister Anderson's portrait and medals are on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
    Unlike their colleagues on the Vyner Brooke, the nursing sisters on the Empire Star reached safety in Australia despite the Japanese attack.

    The remaining 65 AANS nurses sailed from Singapore on the Vyner Brooke on 12 February 1942.
    Two days later, and within half an hour of Sumatra, their ship was bombed and sunk.
    Twelve of the nurses were drowned or killed in the water and the rest struggled ashore on Banka Island - some having spent over 60 hours in the water.

    On Radji Beach, Japanese soldiers ordered 22 of the nurses and one civilian woman into the sea where they were machine-gunned.
    Only one of the women, Sister Vivienne Bullwinkel, survived and she lay in the water until the troops had left.
    Unable to survive in the jungle, she later surrendered and was interned with her colleagues on Banka Island and later on Sumatra for the remainder of the war.
    They experienced shocking living conditions and eight of these army nurses died during captivity. Only 24 were rescued on 16 September 1945.

    [​IMG]


    Three nurses of the 2/4th Casualty Clearing Stationevacuated on the Vyner Brooke.
    Only Sister Mavis Hannah (centre) survivedthe war as a prisoner of war in Sumatra.
    Matron Irene Drummond (right) was killed inthe massacre on Banka Island and
    Sister Dora Gardam (left) died on 4 April 1945 as a prisoner of war.


    [​IMG]

    Sisters Ellen Keats (left) and Elizabeth Pyman, 10th Australian General Hospital, before the beginning of the campaign.

    Pyman reached safety in Australia on the Empire Star.
    Keats who was evacuated on the Vyner Brooke the next day was killed in the Banka Island Massacre. [AWM 120519]
     
    Fred Wilson, Nov 30, 2015
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  6. CAC

    CAC Ace of Spades

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    A bunch of champions...
     
    CAC, Nov 30, 2015
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