What Battle Scars did members of your family suffer during WW2. These scars were not always physical. My father had terrible physical injuries but outwardly learned to live with them and return to a "normal" life. These injuries undoubtedly contributed to his death at 69. After the Australian 6th Division took Bardia, the 6th went onto Tobruk where my father was critically injured on 21st January 1941. His Brigade (19th - "C" Company) apparently got the short straw and he survived the day he thought as most of the shooting had ceased............ Wham bang shot in the arm and twice in the left thigh, he went to ground as you would and boom he was hit by mortar shrapnel. He was cut to pieces and left by the first medic team and not until the second medical team who came later did they realise that he was still alive. Even his Battalion history listed him as KIA. From last paragraph bottom left sets out the sequence of events. The eventually got him to hospital at El Kantara where he spent four months before being sent back to Australia. His injuries: A hole in his skull the size of a tennis ball: Severe concussion A metal plate plate put in his skull His nose torn apart from top left to bottom right (you could only see the scar when it was cold as it used to turn blue) Three fractures of the jaw A large gash in the neck Three fingers torn apart - Wire used to tie them back together Shrapnel in his arms and from neck to waist. Extensive plastic surgery. Here he is in El Kantara Hospital in Egypt a few months later after plastic surgery. He was lucky that the foremost Australian Plastic Surgeon was there to put him back together: Sir Benjamin Rank was a man that could be mentioned in the same breath as Archibald McIndoe.(of Guinea Pigs fame) Quote: Sir Benjamin Keith Rank Kt CMG KStJ Mb MS LRCP FRCS FRACS 14 January 1911 - 26 January 2002 This is the surgeon that reconstructed my fathers head, face and hands after he was shot 3 times and the victim of a mortar explosion on the initial battle to secure Tobruk from the Italians on January 21st 1941. His nurse used to grow the skin that was required for these delicate and painstaking operations. www.mh.org.au/secure/downloadfile.asp?fileid=1012420 Sir Benjamin Rank was considered the father of plastic surgery in Australia. He left a legacy of sheer artistry in plastic surgery, a field he pioneered in peacetime Australia, building on the accomplishments of his wartime surgery. His long-time colleague, Don Marshall described him as a "wonderful surgeon, a very good organiser and a man who made plastic surgery an instrument of foreign policy". He really was Australia's first specialist plastic surgeon. Sir Benjamin grew up in Heidelberg, where his family owned and ran a grain store and mill. He was educated at Scotch College and The University of Melbourne, where he took part enthusiastically in college life and graduated MBBS in 1934 with honours and prizes. He met his wife Barbara on his first trip outside Victoria when he visited an aunt in Hobart. They were married for 62 years and had four children. Upon graduation from The University of Melbourne, Sir Benjamin began a two year residency at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and from there went to London in the late 1930s and became fascinated with the new speciality of plastic surgery. At this time there were only four surgeons practising in London and Sir Benjamin with his typical persistence became the group's first resident surgical officer. As a young surgeon in uniform during World War 2, Sir Benjamin's life was transformed. He was only 30 when he found himself heading a new Unit established to reconstruct the limbs, faces and bodies of wounded sailors, soldiers and airmen. He spent time overseas and then returned to Australia in 1942 to set up the plastic and facio-maxillary unit at Heidelberg Military Hospital. One of his most notable cases at Heidelberg, was Flight Lieutenant John Gorton, whose shattered face, Sir Benjamin reconstructed after Gorton was injured ditching his aircraft in the sea near Singapore. John Gorton went on to become Prime Minister of Australia. By the end of the War the Unit was a world class plastic surgery team. In 1946, Sir Benjamin became the first honorary plastic surgeon at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and started an association that spanned an extraordinary fifty two years. He brought with him a support team including surgical, prosthetic and secretarial members. This team became the leading unit in the land and Sir Benjamin lead it for twenty years. At The Royal Melbourne he was also appointed Chairman of the Board of Post Graduate Education and medical advisor to the Board of Management on policy and development. He served the Board as a member and as vice president and was foundation Chairman of the Archives Committee.
The poor man , that is an awful experience to come through. There is no doubt that a great many men who came through WW2 just "had to get on with it" when they came home and "make the best of it". For this poor man recovery must have been a long road to travel down , every morning when he looked in a mirror he would be reminded of it. The human spirit is an amazing thing , I make no bones about I tip my hat to his gent and men like him.
Thanks James, Besides having bad headaches for many years he fathered four sons and while unable to work at his craft (Cabinet Maker) due to his injuries, he worked at the Reserve Bank in Melbourne for 31 years before he retired as a Messenger. This is dad on the left before he left for the Middle East in 1940. And just before he retired. Many years after he returned home he was walking in the city (Melbourne) and a guy walked past him, then turned around and said: " That can't be you, the last time I saw you, you were dead". This was a chap from "C" company who also happened to live in Melbourne.
Cheers for sharing the story Spidge.....a remarkable story. Fortunately none of my family really suffered although they lived in London through the blitz. My Auntie did nearly loose one of her legs though after a the Till she was using in Marks and Spencers fell on it. That was due to the V-1 that exploded outside on Lewisham High St. Regards Andy
Geoff, Many thanks for allowing us to share your fathers story. Like James, I have nothing but respect for the all veteran soldiers like your father who suffered greatly for our today. Regards Tom
My Great-Grandad was shot in the head at Passchendaele and left for dead. When the stretcher-barers came, they found he was alive, and was only paralyzed down one side, so he was sent back to Zeeland. (hence the name!) I never got to meet him, but he passed away when Mum was about my age, so she has some fond memories of him limping around the house, when he was paralyzed, one hand was in a [ shape, just big enough for a box of matches, so he used to hold the matches in that hand, light a match with the other, and light his cigar. All I Have Heard Of! Jess.
Geoff, Also many thanks for allowing us to share your fathers story. WWII veterans just had to get on with life the best they could as peolpe they came into contact with would have had no idea what they had been through unless they too were veterans. My own father suffered from shellshock for many years after the war. Cheers Paul
