William Dixon

William Dixon ‘LITTLE WILL’ — by Simon Farrelly

William Dixon was born in Preston, Lancashire, on 6 April 1920.       

He was the only child of William and Ann Dixon and was therefore known in the family as ‘Little Will’.

Little Will completed his Secondary Education at St Ignatius’ Central, School, Preston. He then qualified as a motor mechanic employed at Barton Motors, Preston. He continued to work there until he enlisted in the RAF in 1941.

On the morning of 9 January 1941, Little Will travelled by train from Preston to Warrington, using his RAF travel warrant. He arrived at 3 Recruitment Centre, RAF Padgate, Warrington, where he enlisted as 1031192 AC2, William Dixon, RAFVR.  Life at Padgate was dictated by the RAF’s requirement to take young men from civilian life and prepare then for war-time service as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Basic Training revolved around discipline and drill. By 12 February 1941, William had completed his basic training and was posted to No.6 School of Technical Training at RAF Hednesford. Here he received training on a variety of airframes and engines, along with yet more square-bashing, physical education, individual weapons-training, ground combat and defence and personal survival. During his time at RAF Hednesford, William was promoted to AC1 and finally left in September 1941, joining 15 Operational Training Unit.

His RAF Record shows a significant change in his circumstances at this point. Whilst he was at Hednesford, in the column ‘Reason’ on his record there are three letters ‘HHH’ — the Headquarters Holding Home Force i.e. at this stage he was not expected to be posted abroad. However, while he was with 15 OUT, those initials became ‘HH’ or ‘Headquarters Holding’. Removal of ‘Home’ meant he could now expect to be posted abroad. William completed his operational training at the end of November 1941.

The next entry in William’s RAF Record shows that he departed for the Far East on 4 December 1941. A review of British convoys at the time reveals that a large convoy, number WS14, left  Gourock on 8 December 1941, bound for the Far East. The convoy carried a large number of newly trained RAF personnel, many of whom were on board a ship named the Athlone Castle. Little Will, having left his base on 4 December, would have been among them.

In common with the Suez Maru men, William Dixon was  taken PoW on Java in March 1942, and was later aboard the spring 1943 transports to the Moluccas. William was held at Liang camp, Ambon, and his name appears on the ‘Liang Marchers’ list. He would later board the Suez Maru.

On the Japanese Prisoner of War Information Bureau Death Record for LAC1 William Dixon, the ‘Cause of Death’ is entered as ‘Drowned’ and the Place of Death is entered as Longitude 116degrees 30’ east and Latitude 6 deg, 20min south.

This was its position when the Suez Maru sank on 29 November 1943