'A war crime has been censored': Truth revealed about a WWII massacre on Bangka Island

A studio portrait of Australian Army nurse Vivian Bullwinkel in service dress uniform. Sister Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of the infamous Bangka Island massacre in which 21 of her colleagues were killed by Japanese troops. (Australian War Memorial)

World War II Australian Army nurse Vivian Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of a wartime massacre, and prisoner of war of the Japanese for three and a half years.

But for the rest of her long life, she remained a prisoner of silence – only ever permitted to tell part of her harrowing story of survival.