Found this while looking around like you do its not the question but the reply that I found intresting, refering to a medic at Arnhem any ideas on who this person might be? Is this true? Jack Straws daddy was sent to prison for refusing to defend his country against Hitler in WW2? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers
Jason, Comments that all the medics were CO's has to be taken with a pinch of salt.......I know of 3 CO's in the field ambulances at Arnhem.....one in 16, one in 133 and one in 181.......speaking with veterans over the years no one could ever remember a CO......however there were more CO's in the 6th Airborne medical units.....also a respected friend said to me once that a CO's number started with 11.....most medics according to the lists from Arnhem I've seen had either 7 or 14 numbers.....
Probably not directly related, but might be of interest anyway: Excerpt from “The Road past Mandalay” by John Masters (page 317) “Back to the road…… how to rescue casualties without suffering more? The American Field Service are bloody marvels. They seem to be, in equal proportions - pansies, Quakers, conscientious objectors and altruistic young men; but damned nearly all heroes. Put, put, put, the Field Service motor forward, past the firing tanks, stop by the burning tank, the young Americans jump out, lift the wounded, stack them, turn the jeep and back the way they came. Perhaps the Japanese did not fire – sometimes – at them because they wore red crosses. Not often though. They were killed, and wounded, jeeps blown up on mines, destroyed by shell fire, burned to death, the same as the rest of us, and they never fired back, for they were unarmed.”
Medic thanks for that the fact of weather they were COs or not was not an issue ,more the description of jumping into Arnhem armed only with a bible and his medics kit, bravery given by faith rather than a gun has to be admired no matter what your views.Dave RPM is a classic book and thanks for the passage you quote reminds me I really should read my copy sometime soon.All the best Jason.
Jason, Comments that all the medics were CO's has to be taken with a pinch of salt.......I know of 3 CO's in the field ambulances at Arnhem.....one in 16, one in 133 and one in 181.......speaking with veterans over the years no one could ever remember a CO......however there were more CO's in the 6th Airborne medical units.....also a respected friend said to me once that a CO's number started with 11.....most medics according to the lists from Arnhem I've seen had either 7 or 14 numbers..... In ref to 6th Airborne see this BBC - WW2 People's War - An Outline of the Life of a Conscientious Objector to War
