World War 2, Indonesia Morotai, 2/5 Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Medical Women’s Service, 1945

The 2/5 Australian General Hospital was the fifth hospital raised by the Australian Army in the Second World War (1939 - 1945). It was formed in May - June 1940, to be a completely self contained hospital of about 1200 beds, fully equipped with operating theatres, wards, staff quarters and all ancillary items, together with tents to house them. Although classified as 'Corps Troops', as casualities increased, sections of the Unit were seconded to serve with the 6th and the 7th Division Forces.

The main body sailed on 20 October 1940, on board the Queen Mary and other ships in convoy for Bombay, where they were transhipped to Palestine. On 9 April 1941, the 2/5 AGH left Palestine for Greece, As the military situation deteriorated and it became obvious that Greece could not be held, all the female and many of the male staff were evacuated back to Palestine, leaving 165 (including six doctors ) to look after the patients who could not be evacuated. On 27 April 1941, all these people became Prisoners of War.

As the war progressed, the hospital, helped by some members of the 2/7 Australian Field Ambulance, 1st New Zealand General Hospital and the 26th British Hospital, treated all the sick and wounded from the remaining battles of Greece and Crete. In December 1941, the hospital was closed and the remaining patients and staff went to Europe, most of them to Poland. In October 1943, 128 of the 2/5 AGH were repatriated home, leaving 36 still in Europe.

In the meantime, those who had been evacuated to the Middle East, had reformed and been reinforced with new personnel and new equipment. In September 1941, they were again operating, this time in Eritrea and in Ethiopia. When Japan entered the war the 2/5 AGH redeployed back to Australia in March 1942.

In December 1942 they headed to Bootless Bay, in New Guinea. For the first time the nursing was for tropical diseases such as malaria, scrub typhus, blackwater fever, severe dysentery and many others. Each tent accommodated 80 patients, cared for by two sisters and about six orderlies. At one time the bed state was over 1500 - in a hospital designed for 1200, as wounded and sick arrived from the Kokoda Track, Buna and other places in New Guinea. The bed state rose to over 2000 by Christmas Day 1943.

The year 1943 saw two very welcome happenings: Firstly, that year the newly created Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) sent reinforcements to replace some of the male nursing orderlies and other support staff who had done such sterling work up to that time. Secondly, Penicillin was used for the first time.

It was here that the 2/5 AGH, for the first time, treated ex-POWs - some Indian troops released from the Japanese on nearby islands. As the major battles of New Guinea had been fought by the end of 1944, the 2/5 returned to Australia, this time to be re-equipped for its final posting. In April 1945, the 2/5 AGH was sent to Morotai which was still partly occupied by the Japanese.
By Anzac Day, there were 589 beds equipped with 386 occupied. The dysentery ward had 60 beds and the skin ward had 180. On 10 May the bed state was 1116 and by June it was 1500. In July there were about 100 Japanese prisoners of war among the patients. Malaria was still rampant, but fortunately, scrub typhus was no longer a problem.

The 2/5 AGH ceased to function in November 1945, exactly five years after the main body had sailed on the Queen Mary from Sydney for the Middle East. During the period 1939 - 1945, over 1300 personnel served with the Unit, which consisted of 173 male officers (this included Doctors etc), 500 women (Nurses - AANS and Nurses Aides - AAMWS) and 630 other ranked males (including 167 taken as prisoners of war). Probably in excess of 15,000 patients were treated