Red Cross armband : Private R R Denney, 2/2 Casualty Clearing Station Accession Number: REL35716

Description

White cotton armband with a red felt Geneva cross sewn in the centre. The band is curved - wider at the centre and tapering to either end, to form straps. The band is fastened with a two-pronged metal buckle inserted through the fabric at one end. The armband is heavily stained.

Contextual Description

Associated with the service of VX29344 Private Raynor Robert Denney. Denney was born in Ulverstone, Tasmania on 5 April 1919. He was a theological student when he enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps at Melbourne Town Hall, on 18 June 1940. Denney was taken on strength by the Officer Commanding, Redbank Reinforcement Depot on 4 July, but was transferred to 11 AIF Depot on 10 July. On 29 August he was transferred to 7 Australian General Hospital (AGH), Seymour. On 8 November he was admitted to the camp dressing station at Bonegilla with the mumps. Denney was discharged back to his unit on 15 December.

On 3 February 1941, he embarked for overseas service from Sydney in a convoy that included both the Queen Mary and the Aquitania. Disembarking in Palestine on 25 March, Denney was graded as a Group III Nursing Orderly on 10 May. He was admitted to 7 AGH on 21 May with sand fly fever, but after a week's treatment, returned to duty.

Denney remained with 7 AGH until 21 January 1942, when he transferred to 2/2 Casualty Clearing Station (2/2 CCS). He embarked aboard the SS Orcades on 1 February for Java, disembarking at Batavia on 19 February. 2/2 CCS was to form the nucleus of the 1st Allied General Hospital at Bandung, however Java fell to the Japanese in March 1942, and the entire unit was taken prisoner. The AIF was not able to confirm Denney had been taken prisoner until 28 July 1943, by which time he had been already transported twice. First to Singapore, then to Thailand to work on the Burma-Thailand railway. He was later transported to Japan where he laboured in a Shikoku copper mine.

Denney was liberated on 12 September 1945. He emplaned in Manila for Sydney on 8 October, returning to Australia on 11 October. He was admitted to 115 Heidelberg Military Hospital, Melbourne and 111 Australian General Hospital, Tasmania before he was demobilised at 2/1 Convalescence Depot on 25 January 1946.

Denney was awarded the British Empire Medal on 6 March 1947 after being recommended for the award by Brigadier Arthur Seaforth Blackburn, VC. Denney's recommendation noted that 'this soldier worked continuously in the jungle in Thailand in 1943/1944 with detached working parties. For a period of two months during a cholera epidemic he was in charge of sick personnel in a camp without the services of any medical officer. During this period he not only treated, nursed and cared for PW's suffering from cholera but frequently made exhausting excursions by night through the jungle and along jungle tracks carrying cholera patients into camp. By his devoted services to his fellow prisoners of war he undoubtedly saved many lives. His courage and unselfishness throughout the whole period he was a PW was an inspiration to all with whom he came into contact'.