The Australian Army Nursing Service matron leads by example and is a model of devotion and endurance for the nursing sisters under her command. Over 2000 Australian women served overseas in the Australian Amy Nursing Service during the Great War. They saw service in Egypt and islands around the Mediterranean and Greece early in the war. Most then followed the AIF to the Western Front and Britain from 1916 to 1918 and provided nursing services in hospitals and casualty clearing stations.
At the end of the war they nursed the sick and wounded soldiers returning to Australia and tried to relieve the suffering of those struck down by the influenza pandemic that followed the Armistice.
On this day
1942 — Battle of MIDWAY began. This decisive victory by the US Navy over the Japanese Navy shifted the balance of sea power in the Pacific and forced Japan to abandon plans to attack New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa. Japanese losses were 4 aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser, 248 aircraft, and over 3,000 sailors. American losses were 1 aircraft carrier, 1 destroyer, 150 aircraft, and 307 men
1944 — 78 Squadron, RAAF, carried out the last major air combat by the RAAF in WW2, off BIAK Island, New Guinea. 10 enemy planes were shot down for the loss of one Australian plane and pilot
1969 — HMAS MELBOURNE collided with USS FRANK E EVANS in the South China Sea. EVANS was cut in half and 74 of her crew were killed