By Jessica Anstice
The time of year has come where the winner of the annual Bould-Young Memorial Award is announced for Cardinia Shire.
This year’s winner is Kayla Jarenczuk, a Pakenham resident and a Year 10 student at St Francis Xavier College in Beaconsfield.
The award recognises the sacrifices and deeds of Pakenham residents to our nation’s freedom.
Harold Bould, one of five brothers from Cardinia, enlisted with the 39th Battalion in 1941 and was sent for garrison duty in Port Moresby.
With the threat of invasion from the north, Harold, together with his B Company, were ordered to walk the Kokoda Track and establish a supply base at Buna, on the north coast, from where the supplies would be shipped, using coastal trading boats.
Unfortunately for Harold and his mates, the Japanese got there first and proceeded south.
Harold’s patrol was intercepted, and he was taken prisoner. He was later executed and has no known grave.
This year, Wilma Young’s name was added to the award.
Wilma Young (nee Oram), enlisted as a nurse with the Australian Army. She was stationed in Singapore, just prior to the Japanese occupation.
When the nurses were evacuated from Singapore their ship was intercepted near Banka Island and the survivors became POWs for the next five years.
On her release at the end of the war, Wilma returned to Australia and married another former POW, settling in Pakenham District where they raised their family.
Later, she became the first female president of Pakenham RSL, while at the same time working tirelessly to have a memorial for all Australian nurses who died during WWII.
