08 March 2021
Celebrating women of conspicuous courage this International Women’s Day
There are many examples of women of conspicuous courage commemorated in our cemeteries and on our memorials. Many of these women volunteered for high risk roles in some of the most dangerous theatres of the war.
On this International Women’s Day, we’re remembering some of the courageous women from across the Commonwealth that gave their lives during the Second World War.
Sister Elaine Lenore Balfour-Ogilvy - Australian Army Nursing Service
Elaine Balfour-Ogilvy was born in 1912 in Renmark, South Australia. As a trained nurse, she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1940 and was posted to Malaysia in March 1941.
In 1942, in the face of advancing Japanese troops, Elaine, her fellow nurses and patients were evacuated shortly before the Fall of Singapore. Two days later their ship was bombed, and wounded soldiers, medical staff, civilians and children all fled for safety. Many made it to the beaches of Bangka Island, off the coast of Sumatra, including Elaine and 21 of her fellow nurses.
While they cared for casualties, the civilians headed inland to surrender to the approaching Japanese forces. Later that morning soldiers arrived. Instead of accepting their surrender, the Japanese forces killed the survivors of the shipwreck. Against all odds, one nurse survived and would eventually testify to the war crime on Bangka Island.
Elaine and her fellow nurses killed on Bangka Island are commemorated by name on the CWGC’s Singapore Memorial.
Nursing Sister Agnes Wightman Wilkie - Royal Canadian Navy
Agnes Wilkie was born in Oak Bluff, Manitoba, Canada in 1904 and began nursing school at Misericordia General Hospital, Winnipeg, in 1924.
In January 1942 the call of greater public duty came. Agnes volunteered to join the Royal Canadian Navy. She was quickly posted overseas to HMCS Avalon, a large naval base in St John’s, Newfoundland on the easternmost tip of North America.
On 13 October 1942 following a visit to the Canadian mainland, Agnes and her friend and naval colleague Nursing Sister Margaret Brooke were travelling back to Newfoundland on the SS Caribou.
Despite the ferry travelling in convoy with Royal Canadian Navy escorts they were still spotted by a German U-boat. The Caribou was torpedoed and within five minutes sank into the freezing waters.
Despite clinging to an upturned lifeboat, Agnes lost consciousness and let go. Margaret caught her and held for as long as she could but before rescue arrived, the sea won. Agnes drifted away.
Margaret was later awarded an MBE for her valiant effort to save her friend and comrade.
Agnes was buried with full naval honours. Ships in the busy harbour flew their flags at half-mast and flowers were piled high on her grave, which can still be visited today in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Private Marcel Marie Hartnett - New Zealand Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
Marcel Hartnett was born in 1920 in Wanganui, New Zealand. As a young woman she worked as a shorthand typist and in July 1943 enlisted in the New Zealand Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC).
She was posted as a typist-stenographer to New Caledonia where wounded and sick servicemen were being brought to recover after fighting against the Japanese in the South Pacific.
Marcel and nine other WAACs arrived in September 1943. The 2nd New Zealand Convalescent Depot had been attached to an American hospital at Kalavare, New Caledonia.
The camp was still being constructed even though nearly 100 patients had already been evacuated there in desperate need of care.
On 30 January 1944, she and a group of hospital staff took some recovering soldiers out on a picnic. On the return journey, along the island’s rough dirt roads, the truck they were in struck a hole and flipped. Marcel was thrown out and crushed by the tumbling vehicle. She was 23 years old.
Marcel is buried in CWGC’s Bourail New Zealand War Cemetery – the only woman there and the only NZWAAC to die on active service in the Pacific.
First Officer Rosamund King Everard-Steenkamp - Air Transport Auxiliary
Rosamund King Everard-Steenkamp was born in 1907, near Carolina, South Africa, to British parents. She dreamed of flying and in 1935 she began to learn.
She quickly gained experience flying across Africa to Britain, touring Europe, North Africa and Turkey. Soon she was passing on her considerable knowledge as a flying instructor at Witwatersrand Technical College.
When the Second World War began, she was commissioned as a captain where she continued to teach and fly but now for the South African Air Force.
By 1944 Rosamund’s global career in the air force took another turn as she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in the UK. As an ATA pilot she had the often-dangerous job of ferrying military aircraft from factory to base.
Rosamund continued her service with the ATA until 19 March 1946 when she was killed in a flying accident while at the controls of a Spitfire. She was 32 years old.
Her body was brought to All Saints’ Cemetery in Maidenhead, Berkshire, for burial alongside 19 fellow members of the ATA.
Chief Wren Rosalie Wells - Women’s Royal Naval Service
Rosalie was born in 1907 in Tring, Hertfordshire, the youngest of eight children. She followed her sisters into nursing and in early 1939 was an assistant nurse for the Spirella Company, which made corsets.
When the Second World War came Rosalie joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS). In August 1941 she was among a party of Wrens who departed Liverpool aboard the SS Aguila bound for Gibraltar.
The risk of attack from German U-boats meant ships travelled in convoys. Alongside Aguila were merchant and Royal Navy vessels. During their journey, the convoy was warned of long-range enemy aircraft and U-boats on their tail. They were told to expect an attack.
At 3am on 19 August two torpedoes struck Aguila. Over the next four days ten ships from the convoy, including the Aguila, were sunk. More than 400 people lost their lives. Rosalie and 20 other Wrens were among the dead.
The Wrens and seamen lost in the convoy alongside Aguila are all commemorated by the CWGC on our large naval memorials at Plymouth, Portsmouth and Chatham, and our merchant naval memorial at Tower Hill in London. Rosalie is named upon Chatham Naval Memorial.