THE FRENCH NUN KNOWN AS THE ‘ANGEL OF DIEPPE’ FOR STANDING UP TO THE GERMANS TO TREAT WOUNDED CANADIANS DURING THE DISASTROUS SECOND WORLD WAR RAID, HAS DIED. SISTER AGNES-MARIE VALOIS WAS 103.
Beloved nurse treated Canadians on Dieppe beach
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Sister Agnès-Marie Valois, who earned the nickname “Angel of Dieppe” for her defiance in treating Canadian soldiers on the beach of Dieppe during the disastrous Second World War raid, has died, aged 103.
Valois became an iconic hero to Canada’s veterans for defying Nazi authorities on the bloodstained beach who ordered her to treat wounded German soldiers before aiding the Canadians.
“She is known for standing up to the German soldiers; they held a gun up to her to treat the German injured first, but she just looked at everyone as equal — regardless of rank, regardless of nation, regardless of who or what you are she treats those who needed help the most,” said Hardy Wheeler, a retired lieutenant colonel with the Essex and Kent Scottish regiment, one of the first units to hit the beach of Dieppe.
Military lore says she even defiantly stood between an injured Canadian soldier and a German soldier preparing to shoot him, saying he would have to shoot her first. The soldier backed down.
Hundreds of Canadian soldiers passed through her care, both on the beach and afterwards in hospital at Rouen.
The disastrous assault on the coastal port of Dieppe in Nazi-occupied France on Aug. 19, 1942, was a costly one for Allied forces, in which about 5,000 of the 6,000 troops were Canadian. Nearly 1,000 Canadians died, thousands more injured and captured.
The soldiers never forgot her and she never forgot them. The connection between Valois and the Canadian military grew year after year as she was an honoured guest at commemorations, reunions and remembrance services.
A French citizen, she was awarded Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal in 1998. In 2012, the City of Windsor, Ont., home to the Essex Scottish regiment, presented her with the key to the city.
She died Thursday in a monastery near Dieppe.
News of her death passed quickly through the offices of regiments across Canada that had fought at Dieppe, and it has been confirmed by Veterans Affairs Canada.
Many wounded Canadian soldiers spoke of her soothing voice and comforting care and her promise to always care for them.
“They loved each other. They loved her and she loved them. Whenever she met what she called ‘my Canadians’ she had a great big smile on her face,” said Tim Fletcher, a retired captain with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, another unit that suffered heavy casualties during the landing in the area codenamed Red Beach near where Valois helped.
Fletcher was in Dieppe in 2007 with Jack McFarland, a Hamilton vet who was wounded at Dieppe when McFarland’s eyes lit up: “He got excited and he grabbed my arm. ‘That’s my nurse. That’s her, that’s Sister Agnes,’” Fletcher said.
“The way they were responding to her was remarkable. They called her the Angel of Dieppe.”
Lt. Col. John Hodgins, commanding officer of the Windsor-based regiment now known as the Essex and Kent Scottish, who met her in 2006, said her name remains widely known and revered by members of the unit.
“She was very important to the regiment. Everyone is so respectful of her tenaciousness to stand up at gunpoint to help. It was a touching moment when she was reunited with her boys.”
Valois became a nun in 1936 at the convent of HôtelDieu in Rouen and during the war worked as a religious nurse.
After the deadly Dieppe raid, Valois and fellow sisters treated hundreds of wounded soldiers and also gave dead Canadian soldiers a proper burial in the convent grounds rather than turn the bodies over to the German as they were told to do.
Valois remained bitter about the engagement. Several times when she was asked about that day she gave the same answer.
“It wasn’t war, it was a massacre.”