Wilma Elizabeth Forster Oram was born at Glenorchy, Victoria on August 17, 1916.
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Wilma enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service on June 24, 1941, in Melbourne. Her locality on enlistment was Murtoa, Victoria. Her service number was VX58783 and she was a nursing sister in the 2/13 Australian General Hospital Medical, 1939-1945, during World War II. The 2/13 sailed from Melbourne on September 2, 1941, and arrived in Singapore on September 15.
They nursed in several locations and by November 23, relocated to the Malayan mainland. The Japanese invaded Malaya on December 8, 1941. The 2/13 treated most of the casualties at Johore, before the fast-approaching Japanese forced it to withdraw to Singapore, re-establishing a 700-bed hospital at St. Patrick’s by January 26, 1942.
With defeat at Singapore appearing a certainty, the 2/13 nursing sisters were evacuated on three ships. The last 27 (including Wilma Oram) left aboard the ill-fated Vyner Brooke on February 27, 1942.
These courageous women went on to experience the internment camps.
They became Prisoners of War by the Japanese after the ship was sunk (until 1945) in Banka Strait.
Wilma, Vivian Bullwinkle and Betty Jeffrey were P.o.W. survivors together until liberated in 1945.
Wilma was discharged on July 5, 1946, with the rank of Captain from the Australian Army Nursing Service.
Wilma was later awarded a Member of the Order of Australia Award. Following the war, Wilma married Alan Livingston Young, who had also been a P.o.W. They settled on a dairy farm at Cardinia in Victoria and had four children.
Aside from her work on the farm, she was an active member of Returned and Services League of Australia, serving as 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 Services Nurses national memorial, unveiled in Canberra on October 2, 1999. Wilma passed away on May 28, 2001, aged 84 years and is buried in the Pakenham Cemetery Victoria.
The book on Radji Beach, written by Ian W. Shaw, tells the story of the 65 Australian Army Nurses that were aboard the Vyner Brooke when it was sunk and were washed up on Banka Island.
These courageous women went on to experience the internment camps, starvation and disease over the next three-and-a-half years. A total of 24 made it home to Australia.
