7-AUGUST-1916. Serving in the 48th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Sgt David Twining would participate in the Battle of Pozieres; during the second phase of the First Battle of the Somme. Following horrific German counterattacks, a wounded man would enter the 48th Battalion Headquarters with a simple message: “I’m the only one left, do you still want me to hold this position?” That message came from David Twining, and would start a monumental military career that would span Australia’s involvement in the Great War on the Western Front, but would sadly end with Captain David Twining taking his own life in 1931. His most known act, the defence of the Windmill at Pozieres was immortalised in the Pozieres Diorama at the Australian War Memorial. Sadly, the diorama has become more well known than the man depicted in it.
Day: August 26, 2021
16-FEBRUARY-1942. Serving as a Staff Nurse in the 2/13th Australian General Hospital, Second Australian Imperial Force, Sister Vivian Bullwinkel would be the sole survivor of the Bangka Island Massacre at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army. She would go on to be a Prisoner of War for three and a half years, but would never abandon her courage or resolve. Her career didn’t end in captivity, and she would go on to serve until 1947 when she would resume her nursing duties, up until the Vietnam War, when she would once again enter the battlespace to help the disadvantaged. She would receive honours and decorations for her service to the cause of nursing and would uphold those tenents until her death in 2000. She did more than just her job, and for that, we are immensely proud of her.