The reconstruction of warriors : Archibald McIndoe, the Royal Air Force and the Guinea Pig Club

247 Pages·2010·23.79 MB·English

by  McIndoe

A Greenhill Book
First published in Great Britain in 2004 by
Greenhill Books, Lionel Leventhal Limited
www.greenhillbooks.com
Reprinted in this format in 2010
by Frontline Books
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright © E.R. Mayhew, 2004
ISBN: 978 1 84832 584 5
PDF ISBN: 978 1 78337 537 0
EPUB ISBN: 978 1 84468 768 8
PRC ISBN: 978 1 84468 769 5
The right of E.R. Mayhew to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her 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
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One Fire
Chapter Two The Burning Blue
Chapter Three Above All, Alive
Chapter Four The Bombers’ War
Chapter Five Beyond Ward III: Canadians and PoWs
Chapter Six The Trustees of Each Other
Chapter Seven The Privilege of Living
Conclusions
Appendices Further Reading
Further Watching
Notes
Bibliography
Illustrations
Unless otherwise indicated, all cartoons and line drawings are courtesy of The
Guinea Pig and were drawn by club member Henry Standen, despite his
severely burned hands. All photographs have been supplied by members of the
Guinea Pig Club and from the archives of the museum at the Queen Victoria
Hospital at East Grinstead.
Plates (Between pages 96 and 113)
McIndoe in theatre, observed by trainee surgeons, orderlies and nurses
Canadian WDs who visited East Grinstead every Sunday
Ronald Humphreyes with nurses, June 1942
Ronald Humphreyes returns to his Spitfire Squadron, August 1942
John and Betty Bubb at the outset of the war
Chief orderly Cyril Jones oversees the saline bath, 1942
The intensity of theatre at East Grinstead
Major David Charters on joining the RAMC in 1938
Theatre nurses outside Ward III
Charters and his medical staff at Bad Soden
The immediate results of reconstructive surgery
Nurse Rosemary Parkes in her Red Cross uniform
Patients and nurses outside the Annex
1944: Party at the Marchwood Park Convalescent Home
Patients and nurses enjoying the summer of 1944 outside Ward III
John Hunter, chief anaesthetist, with patients and nurses
Christmas in Ward III, 1944
McIndoe, in surgical scrubs, carves the 1944 Christmas turkey
McIndoe joins his patients at the Whitehall
Jack Allaway, Bill Foxley, Claude Allen, Ricky Rix and Winston Churchill
Bill Foxley in the second stage of his pedicle graft
William Foxley’s Wedding Day, 28 June 1947
Theatre Sister Dorothy Wagstaff in her office at East Grinstead
Squadron Leader Charles Dutt marries Theatre Sister Dorothy Wagstaff
1952 Reunion pre-dinner group at the Whitehall
Dinner, later that same evening
The 1960 Staff Christmas Party at the Camden Town Marks and Spencer
Bill Foxley, Jimmy Wright and Henry Moore with ‘Reclining Figure’
A reunion of the Canadian Guinea Pigs
Spitfire dedicated to the Club by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
The Guinea Pig Club Reunion, September 1999
A town’s fitting tribute
The boys who came to East Grinstead from all over the world
Text Figures
An RAF handbook’s depiction of the dangers posed by fire
The Guinea Pig’s real-life animal counterparts
The Guinea Pig Club membership card
The indomitable ‘spirit of Ward III’
The viewing gallery in the East Grinstead theatre
Air Ministry poster (courtesy of the RAF Museum, Hendon)
Derek Martin shortly before the outbreak of war
Derek Martin at East Grinstead after his crash, aged 21
The impressive results of reconstructive surgery at East Grinstead
Cartoon of McIndoe, Tilley and Hunter
‘Scarring of the Retina’
The media attention surrounding the RAF
The Daily Sketch’s take on the Wings for Victory fundraising drive
Wartime advert for Royal Sovereign pencils
The reintegration of the Guinea Pigs into the local community
Squadron Leader W. Simpson
East Grinstead Hospital Christmas dinner menu, 1944
View of East Grinstead (as seen from Fleet Street)
The dedication of McIndoe and the miracles he performed
Cover of the first Guinea Pig magazine, issued in April 1944
Joe Capka
Cartoon lampooning the ignorance of some members of the public

Acknowledgements
It has been my very good fortune to have received the greatest possible help and
encouragement during the research and writing of this book from everyone I
approached connected with East Grinstead, as well as members of the academic
and medical community and many, many others. I hope I have remembered
everybody in the list that appears below, and that they are satisfied with the end
result of all our efforts.
Jack Toper, editor of The Guinea Pig, has been endlessly patient with my
questions over three years of research and has provided me with answers,
enthusiasm and some wonderful photographs. The Guinea Pig Club’s Chief
Executive for Welfare, Jack Allaway, has been similarly helpful, especially with
the provision of a copy of New Faces for Old, in which he starred. From the
Guinea Pig Club itself, Betty and John Bubb, Bob Martin, William Foxley and
Ronald Humphreyes provided photographs and memories, as did Derek Martin
who also gave me access to his remarkable memoirs. Vanora Marland, Sir
Archibald McIndoe’s daughter, gave generously of her time and encouragement,
with the grace and charm that characterises all her work with the Guinea Pig
Club and the RAF Benevolent Fund. Two former East Grinstead nurses gave me
great insight into their daily lives caring for ‘the boys’: Nira Hanbury and in
particular Rosemary Langford. Nigel Dutt’s memories of his parents, who were
both on the staff at East Grinstead, were similarly appreciated. I was able to
draw on the resources of the Guinea Pig Club museum at East Grinstead
courtesy of its curator Bob Marchant. Thanks go to him not only for his efforts
on my behalf but also for creating and maintaining this museum from scratch
and single-handed, for no other reward than the gratitude of all its thousands of
visitors.
This book could not have been written without the support, guidance and
imagination of Professor David Edgerton who leads the Centre for the History of
Science, Technology and Medicine at Imperial College London. Dr Stephen
Bungay, author of Most Dangerous Enemy, the best Battle of Britain history to
date, was beyond generous in his insights into the tactics and technology of
fighter combat, as well as into the mysteries of the publishing process. Dr
Matthew Godwin was similarly openhanded with his own research into Civil
Defence casualty provision. Professor David French and Dr Paul Addison’s
close and careful reading of the original thesis also informed the structure of the
final manuscript to its great benefit.
Telling the story of Major David Charters and his efforts on behalf of the
burned prisoners of war would simply not have been possible without the
brilliant detective work of Joan Howe. Through her, I was able to talk to Mrs
Margaret Charters, and her children, who provided the photographs and
memories of the quiet hero who preferred anonymity when he returned home
from Germany. Through the pages of the Journal of the Royal Society of
Ophthalmology Margaret Hallendorff and her staff enabled me to contact
colleagues of Major Charters. Thanks go to Brian Beveridge for details of Major
Charters’ work post-war, and Archibald Wright Thomson, whose memories of
life and medical practice inside the PoW camp system have been invaluable.
Two patients of Major Charters in particular provided me with wonderful
insights and thanks are due to Jack McEvoy and Lord Hussey for their time and
pains. Lord Hussey’s autobiography, Chance Governs All, is the only other
source to mention David Charters and his work at Bad Soden. Thanks go to Dr
Hannah Gay for bringing Lord Hussey’s autobiography to my attention in the
first place.
The medical and technical expertise of Drs Alasdair and Annabel Emslie and
Dr Colin Hughes have done much to ensure the accuracy of what follows.
Equally appreciated were the comments and encouragement received from Dr
Jessica Reinisch and Christian Dinesen. Early and sustained enthusiasm for the
project came from Albert Applegath. Peter Mountain’s readiness to help with the
photographs was gratefully received, as were the sharp-eyed contributions of
Tom David and Richard Emslie. Ciaran McConville and the other members of
the Debut Theatre Company were a late but welcome inspiration, as was Karen
Kelly who directed the BBC documentary The Guinea Pig Club. Thanks are also
due to the members of staff from the Imperial War Museum, the Public Records
Office, the RAF Museum and the Spitfire Society. As necessary as all of the
above was the patience and support of my family, from within whose ranks came
the original inspiration for the work.