The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX38812) Sister Gladys Myrtle McDonald, 13th Australian General Hospital, Royal Australian Army Nursing Service, Second World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Jana Johnson, the story for this day was on (VX38812) Sister Gladys Myrtle McDonald, 13th Australian General Hospital, Royal Australian Army Nursing Service, Second World War.

VX38812 Sister Gladys Myrtle McDonald, 13th Australian General Hospital, Royal Australian Army Nursing Service
Presumed dead 14 February 1942
Photograph: P02783.021

Story delivered 14 February 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sister Gladys Myrtle McDonald, who died during the Second World War.
Gladys McDonald was born on 17 July 1909 in Brisbane to John and Charlotte McDonald. Her father ran a general store and fruit shop. She had black hair and an olive complexion. Her mother died in 1928, when Gladys was 19 years old. Her father also appears to have died before 1941, as she listed her cousin, Mrs Joan March, as her next of kin on her enlistment papers.

McDonald trained as a nurse, and worked as matron at the Texas District Hospital in Queensland, where she was remembered fondly. When the Second World War broke out she was working at the Brisbane General Hospital. On 11 July 1941 McDonald enlisted in the Citizen Military Force, transferring to the Australian Imperial Force in August, when she was posted to the 13th Australian General Hospital of the Australian Army Nursing Service. In September she embarked with her unit on the hospital ship Wanganella, arriving in Singapore two weeks later. She was variously detached for duty between the 10th AGH, the 13th AGH, and the 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station, caring for the wounded and ill on the Malay Peninsula.

McDonald was once again working with the 13th AGH when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in February 1942. Once the fall of Singapore became inevitable most Australian personnel were evacuated from the island, but nurses of the 13th AGH remained until 12 February, when they, too, were evacuated. McDonald was one of 65 Australian nurses who left Singapore aboard the Vyner Brooke, but two days later the ship was bombed by the Japanese and many lives were lost. Some were helped into lifeboats, others clung to rafts. Those who could swim made for the nearby Banka Island.

McDonald managed to climb onto a raft with six other nurses on it. Two, Betty Jeffery and Iole Harper, volunteered to lighten the raft, and they swam for the land. The raft, however, was caught in a current and drifted away from the others. The remaining five nurses, including Gladys McDonald, were never seen again. She was 32 years old.

Gladys Myrtle McDonald is commemorated on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from the Second World War. Her photograph is displayed beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Sister Gladys Myrtle McDonald, who gave her life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section