'Some of our officers said they'd never let us fall into the hands of the Japanese; they'd rather shoot us. But my reaction to that was, "You needn't bother shooting me, I'll take my chance." I was twenty-five and I wasn't ready to be shot.'
This is the story of one of Australia's most remarkable women. As a captive of the Japanese during World War II, Wilma Oram, a young Australian nurse, experienced the very worst of human brutality: starvation, depravation and degradation. Yet, through the comradeship of her fellow prisoners, she also encountered humankind at its best.
After subsisting for three-and-a-half years on a diet of filthy rice and rotten vegetables, emptying sewage pits with half a coconut shell, and preparing her own coffin nails, Wilma's life after liberation could never be ordinary.
Wilma Oram Young was a woman of inner strength and profound humanitarianism. This inspirational and sensitive account of her unique life is a moving and evocative tribute to a "silent angel".
