Sir (Ernest) Edward "Weary" Dunlop

A pharmacist, a medical doctor and a surgeon, Dunlop served in the Australian Army during the second World War as a Lt Colonel. 

In 1942 when Java fell to the Japanese, Dunlop became a prisoner of war along with other Australian soldiers and later worked on the Burma-Thailand railway. He remained there until the war ended, working tirelessly to save wounded, sick and malnourished men, often putting his own life at risk as he stood up to the brutality of his captors. Dunlop soon become a legend among Australian prisoners of war and an inspiration for their own survival.

Dunlop received numerous honours and awards in recognition of his civic, sporting, educational, military and medical achievements: Order of the British Empire (1947), Knight Batchelor (1969), Companion of the Order of Australia (1987), Knight Grand Cross, Order of St John of Jerusalem (1992), Knight Grand Cross (1st Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Royal Crown of Thailand (1993). He was an Honorary Fellow of the Imperial College of London, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Honorary Life Member of the RSL and Life Governor of the Royal Women's Hospital and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. In 1977 he was named Australian of the Year and in 1988 one of the 200 Great Australians.

Let's commemorate a great war hero on ANZAC day!

Lest we forget.

Photo and biography with many thanks to the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT: https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/dunlop/bio