Vivian Bullwinkel has put on a brave face to the world for the past 52 years, ever since she was released from a Japanese prison camp in Sumatra at the end of World War II.
Her story is one she has recounted many times. Vivian was the sole survivor of a massacre of 21 nursing sisters and one civilian woman by Japanese troops on Radji Beach on Bangka Island.
Vivian revealed the truth of what happen to army investigators but they censored her testimony and chose to obliterate it from the record. Despite her best efforts, Vivian was gagged from the outset by her own government and by the Australian army, who ordered her to keep quiet – an order that, as a serving member of the military, she was bound to keep.
Vivian was desperate to speak out. She knew that the truth would set her free from the years of torment. Thwarted by higher authorities, by a succession of men who thought that they knew better, she was prevented from doing so.
Lynette Ramsay Silver has uncovered what really happened on Bangka Island.
“I refuse to stay silent, to be a party to any further cover-up. It is time to tell the real story of the life of this amazing Australian woman. Vivian wanted a voice. I am proud, finally, to be able give it to her.”