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BANGKA ISLAND - Indonesia’s historic ties with Australia have been highlighted during an emotional ceremony for those who died in a war time tragedy in Sumatra.
In February 1942, a group of British and Australian civilians and soldiers came ashore on Bangka Island and gathered at Radji Beach. Their ships had been attacked and sunk by the Imperial Japanese army which was sweeping across what is now Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
The civilians gave themselves up at Muntok but the Japanese refused to accept the soldiers’ surrender. They executed up to 50 British soldiers and sailors, before shooting 22 Australian nurses who were forced to walk into the sea to their deaths.  Only one of the nurses survived.
75 years later, 12 Australian Army nurses have returned to Radji Beach with 30 relatives and friends of some of the nurses killed that day to honour their memories and to pay tribute to the locals who helped Vivian Bullwinkel survive.   The Australians were joined by nurses from Bangka Island who held their own ceremony with the Army members to remember those who died in war.