Irene Drummond | |
---|---|
Born | (1905-07-26)26 July 1905 Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia |
Died | 16 February 1942(1942-02-16) (aged 36) Bangka Island, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) |
Allegiance | Australia |
Service | Second Australian Imperial Force |
Years of service | 1940–1942 |
Rank | Matron |
Service number | SFX10594 |
Unit | Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps |
Battles / wars | Second World War |
Awards | Mentioned in Despatches |
Matron Irene Melville Drummond (26 July 1905 – 16 February 1942) was an Australian Army nurse during the Second World War. She was the most senior-ranking among the 22 Australian nurses killed in the Bangka Island massacre on 16 February 1942.
Drummond was posthumously mentioned in despatches in 1946 "for gallant and distinguished service in Malaya in 1942". Her last recorded words, uttered in a whisper as she and her colleagues were being marched into the sea to be shot, were "Chin up, girls. I'm proud of you and I love you all."
See also
- Clarice Halligan, also killed in the Bangka Island Massacre
- Vivian Bullwinkel, sole survivor of the Bangka Island Massacre
Citations
- ^ "Matron Irene Melville Drummond". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
- Gorrell, Julie (1966). "Drummond, Irene Melville (1905–1942)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 14. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
- "No. 37651". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 August 1946. p. 3922.
- "Mentioned in Despatches". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. No. 172. 12 September 1946. p. 2475. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- 1905 births
- 1942 deaths
- Australian Army personnel of World War II
- Australian military nurses
- Australian prisoners of war
- Australian women nurses
- Female wartime nurses
- Women in the Australian military
- Women in World War II
- World War II nurses
- World War II prisoners of war held by Japan
- Australian military personnel killed in World War II