Dixon Robert Bagnall Pte 4455504

Personnel Entry

L/Cpl Dixon R B with Major Roper - Brigade Major

Name Dixon Robert Bagnall
Army number 4455504
Rank Private.
Decorations
Date of birth 01-Aug-20
Age 77 at the time of his death.
Unit Enlisted in The Durham Light Infantry, Territorial, 2/5/39. Posted to the 8th Battalion DLI. Posted to the 11th Battalion DLI 1/9/39 on embodiment. Attached to 70th Brigade HQ 1/9/1939. Served in Northern France with the B.E.F. Evacuated via Dunkirk. Served Iceland. Posted to the Permanent Staff of No. 4 ITC 13/11/42. Posted No. 4 ITC 10/6/44. Relegated to the Class Z Army Reserve 1946.
Company/Battery Brigade Headquarters. No 4 Infantry Training Centre.
Platoon or other sub-unit Motor Transport Section of Brigade HQ. Motor Transport Section of No 4 Infantry Training Centre.
Task or role Driver/Orderly (Internal Combustion). Personal Driver to Brigadier Kirkup Sept 1939 - July 1942. Driving Instructor at ITC.
Joined Brigade 1/9/1939.
Promotions Lance Corporal.
Wounded Hit with shrapnel in the wrist while engaged in evacuating wounded via the Dunkirk East Mole. The effect became more serious as time progressed and he was hospitalised for several weeks - losing his L/Cpl rank as a result for a time. After the War he had orthopaedic grafting done which resulted in the wrist being permanently stiff, although he had the use of his fingers. He received a disability pension and was awarded the King's Badge for that injury, and the deafness he suffered from shelling and mortaring during the retreat to Dunkirk. His medical downgrading meant that he was moved to driving instruction duties at the ITC in 1942, when the Brigadier was posted to duties in Cairo, and was not allowed to go to Normandy with the Brigade, despite his attempts to do so.
Prisoner of War No.
Died/Killed in action 3/6/1998.
Home address Married Hannah Quinn 23/9/1944 at St John's Church, Quebec, County Durham.
Source table 11DLI