Sir Archibald McIndoe FRCS - The Guinea Pig Club. As Flight Lieutenant Tom Gleave led the attack on a formation of Ju 88 bombers over the south coast, his Hurricane was hit. "A long spout of flame curled up from the starboard wing, up the cockpit and across my right shoulder. I had some crazy notion that if I rocked the aircraft the fire might go out. Instead the flames increased until the cockpit was like the centre of a blow-lamp nozzle." A great flash and explosion blew Gleave out of the cockpit. Pulling the parachute ripcord, he floated down. Fire had consumed his nose, shrivelling the nostrils into tiny holes between his eyes. His hands, arms and legs were burned so badly he could no longer use them. Gleave's salvation was Dr Archibald McIndoe. Born in 1900 in New Zealand, McIndoe was a plastic surgeon who rebuilt the faces and bodies of mutilated fliers. In ward 3 of a brown wooden hut behind the Queen Victoria Cottage Hospital in East Grinstead, he and his team gave hope and a new life to Gleave and many others fried beyond recognition. For Gleave, McIndoe built a new nose; for others, he rebuilt entire faces, ears, limbs and more. He also encouraged their mental rehabilitation, helping them to come to terms with their terrifying appearance. Wives, girlfriends and servicewomen were asked to meet the Guinea Pigs, as the men were known, at special dances. Although they recoiled in horror at first sight, the women were mindful of the men's plight. "I gritted my teeth," recalled ATS Vera Cole, "walked straight up to one of them and began to talk. Other girls followed my example. Soon their scarred hands and faces faded into the background." Thanks to McIndoe, Gleave and the other courageous young men could rebuild their lives. McIndoe was knighted in 1947 - one of many honours he received before he died in 1960. http://www.vulch.cwc.net/heroe.html
Tom Gleave wrote a superb first-hand memoir of his experiences entitled ' I Had A Row With A German ' by 'RAF Casualty', Macmillan, London, 1941. In it, he gives a moving account of the first time his wife sees him after his narrow escape from death. 'My hands, forearms and legs were encased in dried tannic acid ; my face, which felt the size of the proverbial melon, was treated in the same way, and I peered through slits in the mask. I heard footsteps approaching my bed, and then saw my wife standing gazing at me. She flushed a little and said, 'What on earth have you been doing with yourself, darling ?' I found it hard to answer. 'Had a row with a German', I replied. She tried to smile, and sat down by my side.' Today, it's fashionable to sneer at the 'stiff upper lip' attitude, but people were different, then. ( BTW, in my study I have a piston from Hurricane L1965, P/O CD Francis - Tom Gleave's 253 Squadron wingman, shot down and killed the day before Gleave fell ). ( SUDDEN THOUGHT : Am I infringing copyright, here ? ) [ 14. August 2003, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]
The Guinea Pig Anthem We are McIndoe’s army, We are his Guinea Pigs. With dermatomes and pedicles, Glass eyes, false teeth and wigs. And when we get our discharge We’ll shout with all our might: “Per ardua ad astra” We’d rather drink than fight John Hunter runs the gas works, Ross Tilley wields the knife. And if they are not careful They’ll have your flaming life. So, Guinea Pigs, stand steady For all your surgeon’s calls: And if their hands aren’t steady They’ll whip off both your ears We’ve had some mad Australians, Some French, some Czechs, some Poles. We’ve even had some Yankees, God bless their precious souls. While as for the Canadians - Ah! That’s a different thing. They couldn’t stand our accent And built a separate Wing http://www.queenvic.demon.co.uk/gpig.htm
Outstanding foresight on the part of the British Government to put together the resources that allowed that surgeon to treat those men so well. Outstanding humor on their part in dealing with their situation. Stiff upper lip indeed. I salute them.
Better working sites on this: The Guinea Pig Club In 2016, the Club celebrated its 75th anniversary. 'I cheated death and joined the Guinea Pig Club' https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/guinea-pig-club/ ‘Whose Surgeon’s fingers gave me back my pilot’s hands’: McIndoe, Page and the Guinea Pig club. This quote appears on the dedication page of ‘Shot Down in Flames’, the memoir of Geoffrey Page DSO, OBE, DFC and Bar. Page was one of a unique group of men and a group that is often overlooked when military history and battles are discussed. He was one of the wounded of war. The hospital was soon to receive badly burned airmen, and would go on to treat hundreds. McIndoe would bring two key members of his operating theatre staff with him, Sister Jill Mullins and John Hunter who was his Chief Anaesthetist. Hunter would become famous among those he treated for offering to buy them a beer if they were sick when they woke up from the anaesthetic. Geoffrey Page, like other members of the Guinea Pig Club, would fly in combat again, determined, at the time, to take vengeance. He was awarded the DFC in 1943 and a bar to this when his victories reached 10. By the end of the war Geoffrey Page had 15 victories to his name, and one damaged. Of these 6 were shared. Geoffrey Page would go on to be instrumental in the creation of the Battle of Britain Memorial, unveiled by the Queen Mother on the White Cliffs of Dover in July 1993.
