b. 22/02/1883 Wortley, Yorkshire. d. 09/04/1969 Gore, New Zealand.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 01/10/1918 Rousbrugge, Belgium.
Gertude was born in Wortley, Yorkshire, the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Carlin. She was one of their six children with four sisters and a brother. She went into nursing and was called up on 2nd September 1914 and was sent to France on 6th February 1915. She was promoted to Sister in July 1916 and was based at the No 36 Casualty Clearing Station at Rousbrugge at the time of the incident. She returned to the UK on Christmas Eve 1918. She resigned from the nursing service on May 29th 1920 following her marriage to John Dickison in Derby in late 1918. She met John when he was serving with the 1st Otago Battalion. She then emigrated to New Zealand with John and their son John Carlin. They lived at “Mainholm”, Pomahaka, West Otago.
AM CITATION:
Early in the morning of the 1st October 1918, a serious fire occurred in No. 36 Casualty Clearing Station at Rousbrugge, in Belgium. At the time some of the patients were undergoing serious operations in the abdominal and general operating theatres, the walls of which were composed of wood. The first intimation oi danger in the theatres was the extinction of the electric light accompanied by volumes of smoke, and almost immediately the wooden walls burst into flames. The two sisters and the staff nurse assisted in carrying the unconscious patients tosafety, and returned to the burning wards to assist in carrying out other patients. During this time ether bottles and nitrous oxide cylinders were continually exploding, filling the air with fumes and flying fragments of steel.
BURIAL LOCATION: TAPANUI CEMETERY, WEST OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND.
BLOCK 10, PLOTS 9-11, 29-31.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
