Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War II (1939-1945)
Personal Details
- Gender
- Female
- Other Name(s)
- Maiden name Kanaef
- Date of Birth
- 26/09/1922
- Place of Birth
- Canberra ACT
- Occupation
- Shipping clerk
- Next of Kin
- Henricus Jas (husband)
Unit and Rank Details
- Final Rank
- Sergeant
- Final Unit
- Netherlands East Indies Army
Notes
Leah Jas (nee Kanaef) was the daughter of Jack Kanaef and twin sister of Mischa Kanaef. According to the SMH report she was living in Bondi when she married Corporal Henricus Jas of the Netherlands East Indies Army in 1942 - they met at Rose Bay where he was based and she worked as a shipping clerk. She volunteered for the NEI forces after her husband was shipped out to Ceylon and trained as a nurses' aide at Liverpool and Queen Wilhelmina hospitals, also learning to speak Dutch and Malay. The report describes how she was attending to the medical needs of the people in the Dutch built settlement of Kotanica at Hollandia (in modern day West Irian, Indonesia).
Sources
Sydney Morning Herald - 4 May 1945
Elena Govor, 'Russian Anzacs in Australian History', 2005