Service Number ~ 24385 Unit ~ New Zealand Infantry Next Of Kin ~ Miss Ella Ruby Woisin (str) Rural Delivery, Pukehuia, Hobson, NZ He was killed when the Nino Bixio, carrying Allied prisoners, was torpedoed. At the time of his Attestation Vernon was working as a farm hand for J. Pattie at Pukehina, Bay Of Plenty. Vernon Woisin attested 28th December 1939 and was in Papakura Camp 15 May 1940. Remembered on The Honour Roll within the Thornton School Jubilee Book and on The Te Puke War Memorial. 118 New Zealand prisoners of war died when The Nino Bixio was hit while transporting Allied POWs from Libya to Italy. With another unmarked prison ship, the Sestriere, it had left Benghazi for Brindisi on 16 August, escorted by two destroyers and two torpedo boats. Crammed aboard the Nino Bixio were almost 3000 POWs captured in North Africa, including more than 160 New Zealanders. Their deaths, combined with the 44 men lost on the Jantzen in December 1941, amounted to nearly a third of New Zealand's POW fatalities during the Second World War.
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