Books
"Lost Women of
Rabaul".
For the last 16 years I have been researching the nurses taken from Rabaul
to Japan. These women were very special prisoners. They were the only Australian
women
captured in battle to be taken Japan. Lost women of Rabaul is based on the
diary of Grace Kruger,
interviews with the surviving nurses, their diaries and the
American Major Meanly who liberated them and archival files from around the
world.
Just some of the questions Lost Women of Rabaul answers:
Why were the Rabaul nurses interned in Japan and allowed no
contact with the Red Cross
or the outside world for 3 years 9 months?
Why did Gordon Thomas and the men from the Rabaul ice house
survive with the Japanese in Rabaul
when the rest of the civilian men perished?
In 1945 Minister Suzuki of the Japanese foreign office stated
that
"the Rabaul nurses were a special case" why?
Did the nurses being in Japan have an influence on release of information
on the sinking of the Montevideo Maru?
Why were the nurses :
Abandoned by the Australian Government?
Kidnapped by the Japanese Government?
Betrayed by the British Government?
Just some of the comments received from readers of Lost women
of Rabaul:
"We all think you are to be congratulated on what
you have achieved.
The circumstances you portray are important,different and need to be publicly
told"
Roger Lee Head
Army History Unit, and Army Historian.
I think you’ve done a wonderful service to the nurses
in particular, and the New Guinea mess in general.
Max Henderson
It was a miracle that the notebook [Grace Krugers diary] came
to you and you happened to have some interest reading it.
Otherwise everything would still have been in the mist.
Yoshiko Tamura MBE, POW Network of Japan
Email me for price and details:
rmmiller@optusnet.com.au
Hell and High Fever - David Selby
1956 This is about the 2/22nd
escape down the coast from Rabaul. Maybe hard to find.
This Crowd Beats Us All - Bishop Leo Scharmach 1960
The missionaries of Vunapope
moved to the Ramale Valley on New Britain to
escape the allied bombing. It might be hard to find but it is a good read.
I went to the Ramale valley July 2002 to have a look.
Rabaul 1942- Douglas Alpin 1980. Douglas was
a member of the
2/22nd Battalion who escaped in 1942.
Hostages to Freedom the fall of Rabaul - Peter Stone
1994
This is an excellent book for anyone interested in Rabaul. Peter Stone
must of spent many hours working on this book.
http://www.oceans.com.au/oehtf.html
Rabaul Diary - David Bloomfield 2001. Similar to Hell
and High fever.
http://www.warbooks.com.au/IndividualBooks/rabauldiary.html
El Tigre Frank Holland MBE - Peter Stone . The story
of Frank Holland who helped escaping 2/22nd Men.
http://www.oceans.com.au/oeown.html
Heroes at Sea - Don Wall 1991. Chapter on Montevideo Maru plus copy of official lists.
A Very Long War - Margaret Reeson 2000.
Masked Eden - a History of the Australians in New
Guinea.
- Anne McCosker 1998. Interesting chapter on Montevideo Maru.
http://mysite.freeserve.com/annemccosker
Mr Michel's War From Manila to
Mukden an American Navy Officer's War with the Japanese 1941-1945
- John J.A. Michel 1998 (see text on previous page for
details)
http://tinyurl.com/32b54f
Captives Australian Army Nurses in Japanese Prison
Camps - Catherine Kenny 1986.
An excellent book for anybody researching the Rabaul nurses.
That They Might Live - Ellen Kettle 1979 This book covers the history
of Nursing in PNG.
Not Now Tomorrow - Alice Bowman 1996
The first book written specifically about the Rabaul nurses based on the diary
of Alice Bowman.
http://www.rabaulnurses.com.au/index.
Where Abouts Unknown - Margaret Reeson 1993. Information
on the
Methodist missionaries and their families who waited in Australia.
Little Hell -The Story of the 2/22nd Battalion and
Lark Force
compiled by Carl Johnson 2004
Brave & True: From Blue to Khaki - the Band of the 2/22nd Battalion http://www.salvationarmy.com.au/supplies/product.asp?pID=99&cID=1
Finding Darcy - Sue Lawson 2008.
Sue lost her grandfather - Pte WA McLennan on the Montevideo Maru.
Aimed at the teenage market this is the first novel written based on the the
events at Rabaul.
It highlights the 2/22nd and Montevideo Maru, focusing on the impact on the
families.
http://www.bdb.com.au/books/finding_darcy
Payback - John Bell 2008
Payback weaves the lives of two fictional families,
whose blood feud invokes the ancient New Guinea tribal code of payback.
Much more than a fictional saga… a thinly disguised story of the author’s
own family.
http://www.johnbellbooks.com/index.html
He's Not Coming Home
- Gillian Nikakis 2005
Gillian lost her father who was on the Montevideo Maru
Her book describes the life of civilians in Rabaul leading
up to and
following the invasion.
Available from the author gcniks@bigpond.net.au