Frank Pantridge: Japanese Prisoner of War and Inventor of the Portable Defibrillator

194 Pages·2021·10.502 MB·English

by  Cecil Lowry

Frank Pantridge
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Frank Pantridge
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Japanese Prisoner of War
and Inventor of the
Portable Defibrillator
Cecil Lowry
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First published in Great Britain in 2020 by
Pen & Sword Military
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Yorkshire – Philadelphia
Copyright © Cecil Lowry 2020
ISBN 978 1 52677 733 1
The right of Cecil Lowry to be identified as Author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
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Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Timeline viii
Foreword x
Introduction xii
Chapter 1 Early Years 1
Chapter 2 Enlistment 6
Chapter 3 The Japanese Invasion of Malaya 18
Chapter 4 Changi Prisoner of War Camp Singapore 40
Chapter 5 F Force and the Death Railway 60
Chapter 6 Homeward Bound 88
Chapter 7 Belfast and the RVH again 94
Chapter 8 Twilight Years 115
Conclusion 118
Appendix I: James Frank Pantridge – Obituary by Professor
Alun Evans 125
Appendix II: People Who Knew the Real Frank Pantridge 134
Appendix III: Famous People Whose Lives Have Been Saved
by a Defibrillator 143
Bibliography 149
Index 151
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Acknowledgements
W
riting a book is often a lonely and self-centred business;
however, as most writers will tell you, there are always
people in the background offering you advice and
support and they need to be acknowledged.
Firstly, I must thank my long-suffering wife Liz, for putting up
with my addiction to the war in the Far East and the long hours I
have ‘gone missing’ whilst I worked on this manuscript.
Secondly, to Professor Alun Evans of Queen’s University Belfast
for his input and sound advice. Professor Evans was a colleague of
Frank’s in the Royal Victoria Hospital and he has been a tower of
strength and information during my research.
Sincere thanks also to Frank’s nephew Frank Pantridge junior, for
giving me a detailed insight into the character of his uncle.
To Lady Mary Peters, probably one of the best-known sports
personalities in Northern Ireland, having shot to fame in 1970 after
winning gold medals in the Pentathlon and Shot at the Edinburgh
Commonwealth Games. Two years later she won a gold medal in the
Pentathlon at the 1972 Munich Olympic games. Mary took time out
of her busy schedule to give me a huge amount of information about
Frank whom she first met in a pub near Hillsborough. They became
good friends and she was the driving force behind the commissioning
of a portrait of him that now hangs in Queen’s University, Belfast.
She was also on the committee of the Pantridge Trust.
To Jim Dillon, ex-mayor of Lisburn who, despite a serious illness,
spent time giving me a great deal of background into the man he
knew so well.
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Acknowledgements vii
To Dr Charles Wilson, one of Frank’s protegees and one of the
first doctors to go out on the streets of Belfast in Pantridge’s first
ambulance.
To my friend and FEPOW (Far East Prisoners of War) researcher
Keith Andrews for obtaining Frank’s Japanese record card and his
release questionnaire.
To David Burns, Chief Executive of Lisburn and Castlereagh
City Council, and to the Council for their help and assistance and
for hosting the launch of this book.
To the Ulster Transport Museum, Belfast, for providing me
access to the first portable defibrillator ambulance and allowing me
to use a photograph from their collection.
Thanks also to Francis Pike, author of the excellent Hirohito’s
War, for permitting me to use several of his charts.
To my friends Paul Jarvis and Jean Johnston for doing an initial
proof read on the manuscript.
To Conor Bradford, son of the deceased Roy Bradford, a former
prominent Northern Ireland politician. Conor’s father had embarked
on a biography of Pantridge some years ago but unfortunately the
two men had a disagreement and his book was never published.
Conor gave me permission to use some of the draft material from
the original manuscript.
To Rod Beattie and all at the Death Railway Museum in
Kanchanaburi Thailand for their help. Rod Beattie is probably the
world’s leading expert on the Thai/Burma Railway.
Thanks also to all at Pen and Sword for having the faith to accept
this book for publication, particularly Henry Wilson, Matt Jones
and my editor Irene Moore.
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Timeline
1916 Born in Hillsborough County Down
1928–1934 Friends School Lisburn
1934–1939 Queen’s University Belfast
1939 Graduated Bachelor of Medicine (BM)
1941–1942 The Gordon Highlanders, Singapore
1942 The Fall of Singapore/Changi
1943–1944 The Thai/Burma Railway
1944–1946 Changi Singapore
1945 Repatriation – Belfast
1946 Graduated Medical Doctor (MD)
1947 University of Michigan
1950 Consultant Cardiologist – Royal Victoria Hospital,
Belfast
1966 The portable defibrillator is born
1969 Officer of the Order of St John (OStJ)
1974 Fellow of the American College of Cardiology
1982 Retirement
2004 Death
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Almost certainly, only one cardiologist has conducted pioneering
work that saved my life and those of thousands of others. This
distinction goes to Dr James Francis ‘Frank’ Pantridge, professor
at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. During a visit
to Charlottesville, Virginia, I had a heart attack in 1972, which
a mobile coronary care unit successfully treated with a Pantridge
Portable Defibrillator. I owe my life to the invention of this former
Japanese prisoner of war.
Lyndon B. Johnson
President of the United States of America 1963–1969
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