Janet Lucas as a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), 1940-1946, interviewed by Jan Bassett Accession Number: S01823

Description

Early life; commenced civilian nursing training at Sydney Hospital in 1926; registered for army reserve in 1939; called up in 1940; posted to 2/5th Australian General Hospital (AGH); camp hospital at Greta, New South Wales; left on SS Queen Mary for Middle East; describes conditions and uniforms; sent to Piraeus in Greece; lost commanding officer in German air attack; describes evacuation from Greece onboard HMAS Voyager; relationship with British nurses; went to Crete then Alexandria and attached to British hospital; left Middle East for Australia on SS Mauritania in 1942; set up hospital in Armidale NSW; promoted to Matron; 2/5th AGH then moved to Port Moresby; in 1943 2/5th AGH moved to Morotai; malaria and scrub typhus; health of nurses; conditions on Morotai; condition of Australian prisoners of war (POW) evacuated from Borneo; returned from Morotai in 1945 and posted as matron to camp hospital at Bonegilla, Victoria; demobilised in 1946; effects of war on advances in medical treatment and procedures. END OF INTERVIEW

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Details

Conflicts

• Second World War, 1939-1945

Places

• Port Moresby
• Bonegilla
• Armidale
• Alexandria
• Crete
• Piraeus
• Morotai Island
• Greta
• Palestine
• Gaza

Units

• Hospitals
• HMAS Voyager (1933-1942)
• Australian Army Nursing Service
• 2/5 Australian General Hospital

Tags

• Oral history
• Casualties
• Prisoners of war
• Nursing
• Nurses
• HMT Queen Mary (1936 -)