- Born
- 9 March 1911
Junee, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Servicewoman
- Alternative Names
- Keast, Daisy (maiden name)
Summary
Tootie Keast (later MacPherson) was one of six Australian Army Nursing Service sisters who were taken Prisoner of War on 23 January 1942 in Rabaul, New Britain. The sisters spent three and a half years interned with civilian nurses and missionaries. At first they were held at Vunapope Catholic mission before being transferred to Yokohama and then Totsuka.
After the War in the Pacific had ended a Japanese official told the women that their imprisonment was over. At the end of August an American officer found them, and arranged for their repatriation. They were flown back to Australia via the Okinawa Islands and Manila. [1]
On 10 April 1946, MacPherson was discharged from the Australian Army.
[1] Guns and Booches p. 149
Sources used to compile this entry: Bassett, Jan, Guns and brooches : Australian Army Nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992, 261 pp; http://www.angellpro.com.au/women.htm accessed 2003-03-26.
