Jan Ruff-O'Herne was born on January 18, 1923 in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. She was married to Tom Ruff. She died on August 19, 2019 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
She was one of the few Europeans forced by the Japanese to be sex slaves during WWII (most were Korean).
After the war, she married a British soldier, and they eventually settled in Australia, where she taught in Catholic schools. She became an advocate for the rights of women in wartime.