2017 75th Anniversary Sinking of the SS Vyner Brooke 20c Unc Coin

2017 75th Anniversary Sinking of the SS Vyner Brooke 20c Unc Coin

In 2017, the Mint commemorates the 75th Anniversary of the Sinking of the SS Vyner Brooke with this 20c coin.

The SS Vyner Brooke was sunk by Japanese forces on the 14 February 1942 in the course of evacuating nurses and wounded soldiers away from the beleaguered island of Singapore. Despite a number of survivors making it ashore at Banka Island, an awful fate awaited those that landed on Radji Beach, the servicemen were bayoneted and nurses were shot, with nurse Vivian Bullwinkel the only Australian to survive the events on Radji Beach.

Bullwinkel spent the rest of the war as an internee alongside other survivors of the sinking who landed on Banka Island.

Honouring the sacrifice during war of those who serve our country, often unsung such as the Australian Army Nursing Service, this memento is yours to own now.