Marie Craig

Early life

Marie Eileen Craig was born in the Sydney Harbour suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, on 6 August 1914. She was the daughter of Alexander Craig and Jessie Anning. She had 4 brothers, Leslie, Alexander, John and Harold, and one sister, Beryl.

When Marie's eldest brother, Leslie, died in 1917, her family was living in Ryde. Details of Marie's school education remain unknown. Later, her father died in 1934, and her mother remarried in 1942.

At 24, Marie began nursing training at Royal North Shore Hospital in 1938. She completed her course in April 1942, then did an obstetrics course at the Crown Street Women's Hospital in February 1943.

Marie's brothers all served in the armed forces during World War II. Alexander Craig was an army transport driver. John Craig was a leading aircraftman in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Harold Craig was a corporal in the Army Engineers.

Military service

While working as a private nurse at her grandfather's home in Talbot Street, Peakhurst, Marie enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Nursing Service. Her interview record describes her as having a ‘definite, striding, confident’ manner and being ‘prepared to serve anywhere’.

Marie received her appointment as a sister on 22 May 1943. She was posted to No 3 RAAF Hospital, Richmond. Her career then took her to No 1 RAAF Hospital, Wagga, in February 1944 and then back to the RAAF Station, Richmond, in December 1944.

Following these postings, Marie applied to join the Medical Air Evacuation Transportation Unit (MAETU).

The MAETU recruitment process was hard. When the first unit was formed in 1944, 100 women applied and only 15 were selected. The role required specific personal attributes and nursing skills.

MAETU training

In April 1945, Marie was transferred to the Medical Training Unit at Laverton for 2 weeks. She then joined 2 MAETU at Watsonia, attached to No 2 Hospital RAAF, Ascot Vale.

Marie completed further training for the demanding role in MAETU. The nurses in the unit worked more independently and in forward areas, so their training focused on medical and survival skills.

MAETU nurses attended lectures on altitude medicine, tropical medicine, tropical hygiene and anoxia (oxygen deficiency). They also studied the physiological changes during flight. They learned how to select patients for loading and how to use loading and unloading techniques. Usually, orderlies or troops loaded passengers on the ground. Unusually, MAETU nurses had full authority over who was selected for loading. They could refuse to take passengers.

MAETU nurses learned how to operate equipment and oxygen as planes flew at high altitudes. Further training included in-flight discipline and emergency procedures. Their aircraft flew over hostile territory and could be attacked, so the nurses studied aircraft recognition and jungle and ocean survival, including swimming and life-raft training. Each nurse underwent hypobaric chamber testing to ensure they could tolerate the physical effects of high-altitude flying.

Marie consistently received high marks across all essential areas, including cooperation, confidence, energy, leadership and mental alertness. Her assessing officer observed:

Sister Craig is a good nurse with a pleasing personality. She tends to get flustered if the work is heavy but can always be relied on to do her work well.

[Confidential report dated 24 April 1945, RAAF Form P/P 29, NAA: A12372, R/501399/H]

From 18 May 1945, Marie was operating outside Australia with 2 MAETU. In August 1945, she arrived at Morotai, an island in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).

Although they flew into combat areas, only No 1 MAETU received small-arms training. No sidearms were issued. Only one MAETU nurse ever carried a pistol of her own. She apparently never had to use it.

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Life in MAETU

The MAETU evacuated Allied sick and wounded from forward areas. The unit's nurses operated under the Air Transport and Troop Carrier Command rather than the RAAF Ambulance Service.

After completing training, Marie and the other 9 nurses of No 2 MAETU arrived in Morotai in May 1945.

Once in Morotai, No 2 MAETU evacuated soldiers from Labuan, Tarakan and Balikpapan. In their first 5 months of deployment, the unit moved more than 2,400 evacuees.

Marie's daily work as an MAETU flight sister was physically and mentally demanding. Yet, a friend in her unit recalled:

She was a character and had a marvellous sense of humour. She was a vital person, always full of energy, laughter and empathy.

[Major Eileen Henderson OAM RFD (ret'd), Battle for Australia Association]

As sister-in-charge, Marie chose which patients to load onto the plane. The most serious cases were on the floor, and the least serious were on the top tier. For safety, battle-fatigue cases were often sedated and restrained for the flight. Each flight of 26 or more evacuees had a nurse and a male orderly.

The nurses woke at around 3 am because the flights left very early. They carried a substantial nursing kit: a box or carrier of medical and other supplies, an oxygen cylinder and a 2-gallon (7.5 L) thermos of tea. The nurses were responsible for restocking their kits.

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Flying in, nurses often had to find space around whatever cargo was onboard. One nurse remembered having to sit in a jeep on her forward flights.

Nurses flew about 100 hours a month. Flights were long, lasting about 8 to 16 hours. Destinations included Guadalcanal, Australia, Hawaii and a return to base. There were always risks: enemy aircraft, ground fire, flying into combat areas, engine trouble or having to crash-land or ditch in the ocean. More than one MAETU flight had to ditch in the sea, with nurses evacuating patients.

As the MEATU flew into and out of Moratai, the pilots often flew above 10,000 feet to get over the mountains and avoid poor weather. At 12,000 feet, sheet ice formed on the inside of the uninsulated planes. One nurse recalled flying past 18,000 feet.

To help with these flights, nurses were issued blue woollen fur-lined flying jackets. Their practical uniform also included slacks, boots, gaiters, a tunic and a blue forage cap.

During her time at Morotai, Marie took many flights nursing the Allied sick and wounded. She was known as a very able nurse.

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Flying in Papua and New Guinea

On almost every flight in NG (New Guinea) there is a high mountain range to fly over or bad weather to get above

[Personal memoir of unidentified MAETU nurse, AWM137 2/6]

Flying in Papua and New Guinea was notoriously dangerous. The massive central spine of the Owen Stanley Range carved the land into long, blind valleys. Low cloud and fog could move in quickly, reducing the pilot's visibility. Heavy rain and storms struck frequently. To add to these hazards, there was always the possibility of engine trouble.

we were somewhere in the vicinity of the Owen Stanleys and somehow got into a blind valley. The first thing I knew, a mountain seemed to loom up directly in front of us, and it seemed impossible that we could avoid it … we eventually pulled out of it but patients and crew were all badly shaken. On the same trip, we spent three hours in an electrical storm – that is something I never wish to experience again.

[Personal memoir of unidentified MAETU nurse, AWM137 2/6]

Although Japan announced its surrender in the Pacific War on 15 August 1945, medical evacuations were continuing for wounded personnel and prisoners of war.

On 18 September 1945, Marie prepared for an MAETU flight. The planned route for flight A65-61 in the Douglas Dakota VH-CUT was from Biak, off the coast of Papua, to Merauke, Horn Island and Townsville.

Marie was on board with a medical orderly, Sergeant Francis Blackmore, and 5 air crew. Eighteen stretcher cases had been loaded. Another soldier was hitching a ride. With 28 people on board, the flight took off at 6:45 am.

Flight A65-61 did not arrive at Meraruke. After extensive searches, the aircraft was assumed lost at sea. Marie and the others on board were listed as presumed deceased. It remains the worst aircraft loss in RAAF history.

The cause of the A65-61’s disappearance was not discovered until 23 years later.

After the plane went missing, in a tender gesture, Nora Heysen sent her sketch of Marie to Marie's mother.

Discovery and recovery

On 19 April 1967, a missionary pilot spotted the wreckage of a Dakota aircraft in the West Irian mountains (now West Papua, Indonesia). It was thought to be a Dutch plane, but in 1968, he saw the wreckage again.

In November 1968, another group investigated the site. They found materials suggesting the site contained an Australian wartime aircraft. The plane markings (-VH -CUT) confirmed it was Flight A65-61.

The Dakota had crashed in the Cartensz Ranges at around 4,270 m in a ravine just below the mountain top. The crash site is near Paniai Lakes (formerly Wissel Lakes).

Operation Tropic Snow in December 1970 was the first recovery operation. Due to the high altitude, the RAAF team, with Indonesian assistance, needed helicopters and oxygen. At times, high cloud cover forced the team off the mountain.

Final resting place

Sister Marie Craig's remains were buried in the Port Morseby (Bomana) War Cemetery on 26 January 1971. Marie's sister, Beryl Cox, attended the memorial service in February 1971. Her mother had died some months before.

Marie's headstone is inscribed with 'What is lovely never dies but passes into other loveliness' from the poem 'A shadow of the night' by Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

Bomana holds the remains of more than 3,000 Commonwealth service personnel, but Marie is the only woman buried there.

Two more expeditions, in 1999 and 2005, recovered many personal items, including watches, glasses and identification tags. Marie’s lipstick case was found and recovered from the wreckage.

At a 2005 memorial service, many personal items were given back to families. Marie's niece, Dorothy Wall, said:

To see her personal effects, like her lipstick, still intact after all this time, is absolutely amazing and very emotional for me...Marie was revered by my father because she was his special little sister. When I became a nurse I wanted to join the Air Force like Marie, but because of what happened to her, my father wouldn't allow it.

['DAKOTA GHOSTS NOW AT PEACE', Air Force News, 25 August 2005]

Mentioned in dispatches

Marie Craig was posthumously mentioned in dispatches in 1947.

Sister Craig rendered outstanding service as a flight nurse with No. 2 Medical Air Evacuation Transport Unit before being posted as missing on 18th September 1945 following the loss of air evacuation aircraft VH-CUT of No. 45 Squadron flying from Biak to Higgins Field on the trip from Morotai to Townsville.

At all times, she displayed outstanding skill and keenness, and carried out her duties without regard for personal health or safety.

[NAA: A12372, R/501399/H]

Commemoration

Sister Marie Craig's life and service are commemorated at the:

• Australian Military Nurses Memorial
• Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Panel 117
• Virtual war memorial
• Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital Memorial Rose Garden.

Two memorial plaques name Sister Marie Craig with 4 other RAAF nurses who died in action in World War II – one at RAAF Laverton in Victoria and the other at Westminster Abbey in London.

The Royal North Shore Hospital commemorates Marie Craig and fellow graduate Nancy Harris, an Army sister killed on Bangka Island, with a plaque in its chapel.

Nora Heysen's portrait

Nora Heysen's portrait of Sister Marie Craig is held by the Australian War Memorial.

Nora Heysen was the first Australian female war artist. At the outbreak of war, Nora was an accomplished artist, the first female Archibald Prize winner and a pacifist. She wanted to contribute to the war effort by being a war artist. Her appointment was delayed as the Australian army did not want to pay Nora the same as a male artist. Remarkably, in the end, she was.

Officially in the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS), Nora was placed on the Special Army List to allow her to travel overseas. Nora served in Morotai, Borneo, Lae and Finschhafen.

In August 1945, Nora was sent to Morotai and created many portrait sketches of the nursing sisters, including Marie. Heysen’s sketch of Marie shows a confident, determined young woman in uniform.

Flying Sister Beryl Chandler recalled how this came about:

Nora had approached me many times to sit for her and for one reason or another I did not want to. One day there was only Marie, Nora and myself in the Officer’s Mess when once again Nora asked me to allow her to paint me. Again I wasn’t keen, and dithered whereupon Marie said to Nora: ‘Look Nora, you might as well paint me, I’ll pose for you. This job is going to kill me anyway, and at least people will know what Marie Craig looked like.’

I was aghast … because she seemed to mean it, and I remember saying to her, ‘Marie, it is a volunteer job, and no one would mind if you transferred to ground duties’ … but she was adamant that she was going to fly on, and she was just as sure she was not going to make it home to Australia. ‘No Chan, the writing’s on the wall. I am just not going to come through.’ She loved the work, it gave her immense satisfaction, but she had this strong premonition that she would be killed.

[Beryl (Chandler) Maddock, AWM PR89/023]

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