106898 AIRCRAFTWOMAN Josepha Constance (Connie) BOYS
Date of Birth: 7 December 1921
Place of Birth: Golspie NSW
Next of Kin: Mr Alfred J Boys - Father
Enlistment Date: 22 October 1942
Unit: 3 Medical Receiving Unit, Royal Australian Air Force
Theatre of Service: Australia
Date of Death: 19 February 1946
Place of Death: Brisbane Hospital, Queensland
Cause of Death: Died of Illness
Notes: Buried in Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland
Connie undertook 4 years nursing training at a private hospital in Condobolin, St John of God Hospital in Goulburn and Crookwell District Hospital. She was working at Crookwell Hospital when she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force but must not have undertaken her final exams to be registered as a trained nurse as she was employed as a Sick Quarter Attendant. After enlisting on 22 Nov 1942 at the age of almost 21 she was posted to 3 RAAF Hospital Concord West (Co Located with 113 Australian General Hospital), then to RAAF Base, Tocumwal in May 1943 for 2 months before joining 5 RAAF Hospital, Tocumwal, which had been newly established.
On 9 Sep 1944 Josepha commenced her Nursing Orderly Training at 1 RAAF Hospital in Wagga Wagga which she completed 3 months later. She returned to 3 RAAF Hospital, Concord until mid September 1945 when she was posted to 3 Medical Receiving Unit in Townsville.
This unit was receiving air evacuations from POW camps and forward battle zones, and the patients were often only there for a few hours, to be “Cleaned, medicated and received any other urgent treatment”, before they were evacuated by air to southern capital cities. To say this was a fast paced and stressful work environment is an understatement.
In early 1946, Townsville was hit by the tail end of a cyclone, causing flooding of the Ross River, and patients were evacuated ‘just in time’ as some ward buildings were washed away. Connie was evacuated to Brisbane General Hospital in late January 1946, and she died there on 19 Feb 1946, her diagnosis was “Psychosis and Exhaustion”. Today, we would probably say that she was suffering from PTSD.
