Sister Amy Sayers, Queen Alexandra's Military Nursing Service

Photograph, World War Two (1939-1945).

Sister Amy Sayers of Queen Alexandra's Military Nursing Service was travelling on the troopship HMT Strathallan when it was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in the early hours of 12 December 1942. The ship was en route from Scotland to North Africa and was transporting 5,132 personnel including 248 Queen Alexandra's Military Nursing Service nurses.

The ship was hit by a spread of four torpedoes, one of which hit the engine room killing two engineer officers and two Indian crewmen. When the ship began to list, the Captain ordered the nurses and troops to abandon ship. Most of the nurses and around 1,000 troops were transferred by lifeboats to the destroyer HMS Verity. Sayers and the majority of the crew survived but six crew, five soldiers and five nurses were killed.