1) A
note from STAN. ARNEIL enclosing copies of letters, of which
he says:
"These remarkable letters came to me from a former CAPTAIN
STEPHENS A.A.M.C. SHE is now married to an Air Force Officer
from the Yugoslav Air Force and is now MRS. MARGIT
DJORDJEVIC of ST. IVES.
2)
Col O'Donnell wrote: "Your info info was the first I had of
MARGO STEPHENS since
Changi.
She arrived with the R.A.P.W. & I. and was stationed at ST.
PATRICKS SCHOOL. When l received word that a Capt. Stephens
would like to see me, I was taken to ST. PATS; enquired for
Capt. Stephens, and a guard replied “She's in the 5th Tent
in that row.”
"You
can imagine my surprise when I was greeted by MARGO
STEPHENS, who had been a VAD at Bathurst Camp Hospital, and
had entertained me and others at her home in Bathurst.
3)
While at
Changi
CAPT. MARGIT STEPHENS wrote some letters to her parents at
Bathurst. One letter written on 12/9/45, the other on
22/9/45.
Extracts from the first letter:
"Didn't get ashore until 1400 hrs. today; a lot of lads on
the wharf, and they minded us like fathers, until we got
transport out to St. Pats., where 13 AGH was, when they came
back to the Island……You'd be so proud of them all you'd
burst .....they're even more
marvellous
than I thought even 8 DIV could be ....The morale and
discipline is about 150% and they stand and salute as if
they were the freest people in the world. Full of jokes and
laughter, all of the most normal variety. THE MEDICAL
RECORDS ARE ABSOLUTELY COMPLETE, AND I BELIEVE THE MEDICAL
RECORDS OF THE DIVISION AS A WHOLE ARE ALMOST PERFECT. THEY
HAVE ALL BEEN FLOWN HOME. We have found that the only people
who are
organised
are the 8 Div., and they are looking after the group
magnificently, instead of we, them!
Extracts from 2nd letter:
"Nobody who hasn't seen the men here will ever believe half
of how wonderful they are. For all the HELL they have had,
they are still the fine, disciplined, free looking troops
who sailed away in 1941, and even in their pathetic patched
uniforms they are far more the soldier than the people who
came in to rescue them ....they even had their embarkation
papers made out......the WHOLE HISTORY` OF EVERY PATIENT has
been reported on every bit of available paper. A great deal
of this is due to 'BLACK JACK', who has done a wonderful
job, but it's the Medical Officers who seem to have done the
grandest job - you hear it on all sides. JOHN TAYLOR is a
kind of God, and what he did in nine months in Thailand,
they say that no one but the people, who actually saw it,
will ever know.
"COLIN O'DONNELL was one of my first visitors and he comes
often. About half of 2/30 Bn. must have been in at one time
or another & I saw a lot of JOHN TAYLOR & WARD BOOTH.
Another has been MALCOLM MACDOUGAL who has acquired a car
and takes us out for trips. One afternoon I went out to
Changi. It's a pretty grim place and life there must have
been fairly hideous.
"We
took in our first patients only about thirty hours after we
arrived and now have eleven wards open, with patients from
Thailand and Sumatra - the latter being in the worst
condition we've ever seen. Strangely enough they all eat
enormously; we thought it would take a long time for their
tummies to adjust, but that doesn't seem to be the case."
(Source: Makan 265, April/June,
1982)