Sybil Medan Kathigasu GM (née Daly; 3 September 1899 - 12 June 1948) was a Malayan Eurasian nurse who supported the resistance during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. She is the only Malayan woman to ever be awarded with the George Medal for bravery. Early life Kathigasu was born to Joseph Daly, an Irish-Eurasian planter, and Beatrice Matilda Daly (née Martin), a French-Eurasian midwife, on 3 September 1899 in Medan, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies (thus reflected in her middle name). Her paternal grandparents were an Irishman and a Eurasian woman while her maternal grandparents were a Frenchman named Pierre Louis Martin and a Eurasian woman named Adeline Regina Martin née de Murat. She was the fifth child and the only girl. She was trained as a nurse and midwife and spoke Cantonese fluently. Marriage and family While she was practising nursing and midwifery at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, Kathigasu first met Dr. Arumugam Kanapathi Pillay, a second-generation Malaysian Indian, born on 17 June 1892 in Taiping to Kanapathi Pillay and Thangam, immigrants of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. Initially there had been objection from her parents due to their religious differences: him being a Hindu while Kathigasu was a Catholic. However, with agreement from his father, he became a Catholic and was renamed as Abdon Clement Kathigasu. Their wedding took place in St. John's Church (present location of St. John's Cathedral) in Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur on 7 January 1919. Kathigasu's first child was a son born on 26 August 1919, but due to major problems at birth, died after only 19 hours. He was named Michael after Kathigasu's elder brother, who was born in Taiping on 12 November 1892 and later joined the British Army, and was killed in action on 10 July 1915 while taking part in the Gallipoli campaign. The devastating blow of baby Michael's death led to Kathigasu's mother suggesting that a young boy, William Pillay, born 25 October 1918, who she had delivered and had remained staying with them at their Pudu house, should be adopted by Kathigasu and her husband. Then a daughter, Olga, was born to Kathigasu in Pekeliling, Kuala Lumpur, on 26 February 1921. The earlier sudden death of baby Michael made Olga a very special baby to Kathigasu, when she was born without problems. So when Kathigasu returned to Ipoh on 7 April 1921, it was not only with Olga, but