ONE of the last remaining members of a club for seriously injured Second World War airmen has remembered the pioneering surgeon who saved him.
Jim Marshall underwent three years of rehabilitation after surviving a horrific plane crash in 1945 in Italy which killed the rest of his crew.
Upon returning to the UK, the former Wellington bomber navigator underwent treatment in East Grinstead as part of The Guinea Pig Club.
Set up by visionary surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe, the club was established on July 20, 1941, to support young airmen with devastating injuries - taking its name from the experimental treatments they received.
Sir McIndoe oversaw new techniques for treating the wounded at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead.
Injured men contributed to the development of plastic surgery after going under the knife in the early days of the pioneering procedures, and challenged the existing perception that disabilities were life-limiting.
East Grinstead went on to became known as “the town which didn’t stare” as locals were accustomed to wounded servicemen in their midst.
Mr Marshall, now aged 98, said he credits Sir McIndoe with rebuilding his life.
“The Guinea Pig Club means to me what it means to many people – life,” he said.
“McIndoe was very approachable. He would come and talk to us all, he was very popular with all the patients. In fact, he asked us to his cottage, to get a change of air.”
Sir Archibald is also credited with emphasising the mental recovery and fostering a communal spirit on the ward by forgetting about military ranks, setting up a drinking club and promoting socialising and singing.
Mr Marshall, who now lives in the Erskine veterans’ village in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, is the last of the club alive in Scotland
He and his crew had previously flown 100 missions without incident before one of the two engines on the plane he was on failed, resulting in the life-altering crash.
“I didn’t even feel the crash. I knew nothing. I was unconscious,” he said. “I like to think my crew all died with the force of the crash, they could have died of their injuries caused by the force, but I hope not.
“The plane kept on travelling which I didn’t know about, breaking up, on fire, through the forest and somewhere during that I was thrown out of the plane. I was still unconscious and knew nothing about it.
“I don’t know how long I was unconscious but eventually I woke up and my clothes were on fire, and I was on fire.”
Controller of the RAF Benevolent Fund air vice-marshal Chris Elliot said Mr Marshall’s story is “inspiring and so typical of his generation”.
“Rather than thinking of himself, and his injuries, for Jim the loss of his crewmates was the hardest thing to bear,” he said.
“McIndoe encouraged in these men a positivity for the future, and a determination to recover and lead fulfilled lives.”
Mr Elliot said the same spirit lives on in the Casevac Club - a group of veterans who were wounded during tours of Afghanistan and Iraq.
“And as long as the RAF exists, the RAF Benevolent Fund will stand by all who serve their country, ensuring they are never alone in their hour of need,” he added.
The Casevac Club, which is named after a military phrase meaning casualty evacuation, was set up in 2017. The Duke of Sussex backed its establishment through the Royal Foundation.
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