Wilma Oram
Wilma Oram | |
|---|---|
| File:Sister Wilma Oram, Sep 1945.png Oram, after her return to Australia from a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, September 1945 | |
| Birth name | Wilma Elizabeth Forster Oram |
| Born | 17 August 1916 |
| Died | 28 May 2001 (aged 84) |
| Buried | Pakenham Cemetery |
| Allegiance | Australia |
| Branch | Second Australian Imperial Force |
| Service years | 1941–1946 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Service number | VFX58783 |
| Unit | Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps |
| Conflicts | Second World War |
| Awards | Member of the Order of Australia |
Wilma Elizabeth Forster Young, AM (née Oram; 17 August 1916 – 28 May 2001) was an Australian Army nurse during the Second World War.
Second World War
[edit | edit source]Oram was evacuated from Singapore in February 1942 and was aboard the Vyner Brooke when the ship was sunk in Bangka Strait by Japanese aircraft. After surviving in the water for many hours she came ashore at Bangka Island and became a prisoner of war until 1945. Vivian Bullwinkel and Betty Jeffrey were captives together with Oram.
Oram was a founder of the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre, together with Edith Hughes-Jones and Annie Sage, Vivian and Betty.[1] Jeffrey and Bullwinkel became the public relations front of the Nurses Memorial Centre, visiting every sizable hospital in Victoria to raise money that created the centre.
Post-war life
[edit | edit source]Following the war, Oram married Alan Livingstone Young, who had also been a prisoner of war. They settled on a dairy farm at Cardinia, Victoria, and had four children. She was an active member of the Returned and Services League of Australia, serving as the treasurer and later president of its Pakenham branch. She worked for causes including greater recognition for Vietnam War veterans and to raise money for the Australian Service Nurses National Memorial, unveiled in Canberra on 2 October 1999.
Young was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours.[2] She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.[3]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Further reading
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- Victorians at War Archived 10 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- Young, Wilma Elizabeth Forster Oram at The Australian Women's Register
Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- 1916 births
- 2001 deaths
- People from Victoria (state)
- Australian women nurses
- Female wartime nurses
- World War II nurses
- Australian military personnel of World War II
- Australian military nurses
- Women in the Australian military
- Military history of Australia during World War II
- Australian women in World War II
- Australian prisoners of war
- World War II prisoners of war held by Japan
- 20th-century Australian women
- Members of the Order of Australia