A through and through gunshot wound, does has some positive aspects. At least a bullet is not lodged in Corporal Dixon’s Leg. But we don’t know and aren’t told many other details. Did the bullet pass through an artery? Did it ricochet of a bone? Was the wound infected as Corporal Dixon waited for the stretcher bearers to arrive? And even a deep flesh wound without any of those complications is still extremely painful. At a minimum muscles would have been blown away. Not to mention the mental condition Corporal Dixon must now be in after 17 months on the front line of this brutal war. We talked about the sights, the body parts, the rats, the mud, the lice, the dead horses, the dead bodies. Now how about the sounds that could set you off constantly – of artillery fire, barrages of it, machine guns, shells landing , grenades detonating , bombers overhead . We can’t even imagine. The GSW wasn’t a problem as much as the rest of it was. No one talked about PTSD back then. but that doesn’t mean Corporal Dixon didn’t have it. Corporal Dixon spends 74 days at the Princess Club Hospital on Jamaica Rd in Bermondsey, South East London. ( you can find Bermondsey on the Jubilee line – but the hospital is long gone) He arrived April 26. He is discharged from the hospital on July 9th, 1918 The record reads ” Through and through wound left calf . Wound quite healed. No disability. Recommended convalescent home.”
Corporal Dixon is then transferred to Canadian Convalescent Home Bearwood which is located in an old mansion in Wokingham, Berkshire. Robert spends 10 days in Berkshire before being discharged on July 19th . The record reads, ” wound healed, no limitation of movement , but considerable weakness in left calf” Corporal Dixon is then transferred to the 2nd Canadian Convalescent Depot at Bramshott Camp in Hampshire to the south west of London. Here he undergoes physical therapy and light training to help him recover from his injury. Obviously, unfortunately, there is no intent to send Corporal Dixon home. He is in Bramshott Camp from July 22nd to September 13th when he is transferred to the 4th Reserve Battalion. Shit – are they really going to send him back into action? On September 27th Corporal Dixon requests to revert to Private Dixon. This tells us something about his state of mind . His heart is no longer in this He has no interest in any leadership role. Sending him back to the front will not end well. In the end it doesn’t matter. In the end the end the Great War is finally near. Private Dixon remains in the Reserve Battalion. He does not need to return to France. Thank goodness.