| Rank | Sister Nursing Corps |
| Service Number | WX3439 |
| Unit | 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station, Australian Army Medical Services |
| Cause of Death | Executed by Japanese in the Bangka Island massacre |
| Place of Death | Bangka Island, Indonesia |
| Date of Death | 16 February 1942 |
| Age | 28 |
History
Sister Bessie Wilmott was born on 24 May 1913 to John and Clarice Wilmott at Claremont, Western Australia. She spent most of life at Como. In 1919 Bessie’s mother would die. In 1923 her father remarried and it would appear that Bessie and her stepmother had a loving relationship.
Bessie trained as a nurse at the Royal Perth Hospital. She became Sister in Charge of A Ward.
Bessie enlisted on 14 August 1940. She was appointed to the 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station of the AANS. She departed for Singapore in early February 1941. She would return to Singapore in early 1942 and was subsequently evacuated on the SS Vyner Brooke. After the ship was bombed she would grab a rope on the raft which had many nurses on it. They would end up on Radji Beach, Bangka Island. On 16 February she would be shot with 21 of her nursing colleagues. Only Vivian Bullwinkel would survive.
