Sarah Elizabeth (Bessie) DIXON. Nursing Sister 206968 QAIMNSR.
Born 1912 to James and Margaret Thomson Dixon, of Eglingham, Northumberland.
Sister Dixon qualified as a nurse at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. At the outbreak of war, she volunteered for active service. She nursed Sir Thomas Oliver during his illness and then went to hospitals at Shotley Bridge, Lincoln and Kirkwall.
She was onboard Hospital Ship St David with patients who were evacuated from Port d'Anzio to Naples. The ship was attacked and sunk by German aircraft on the 24 January 1944. The ship sank five minutes after the initial hit. She and nurse Winnie Alice Elizabeth Harrison stayed on the sinking ship to save others. She was aged 32.
Sister Dixon was serving in the Mediterranean on the
Hospital Ship St David. While transporting wounded soldiers from the Anzio beachhead at night, in company with two other hospital ships, the St David was deliberately attacked and sunk by a German bomber. The captain, 12 crew, 22 Royal Army Medical Corps personnel (including 2 reserve QAIMNS nursing sisters, Sarah Dixon and Winnie Harrison) and 22 of the wounded patients lost their lives. When the attack took place, all three ships were fully illuminated as per the Geneva Convention which, in this instance at least, just seems to have served to make them an easy target.
Their main focus was getting the wounded safely off the ship, rather than their own safety, which seems to be why equal numbers of medical staff and patients died.
Commemorated on a plaque in St James Church South Charlton.
Commemorated on the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial, Surrey.
http://www.northernvicar.co.uk/2013/03/05/south-charlton-st-james/
