Courage of the 'Guines Pigs'

Every year they return to the Sussex hospital where they were treated so members can keep their bonds of friendship strong and pay tribute to the remarkable surgeon who made such a difference to their lives.

The numbers are dwindling each year but they are determined to keep the club's memory alive. Siobhan Ryan reports.

Close friends Bill Foxley and Jack Allaway are members of an exclusive club.

They are two of the hundreds of badly-burned RAF men who were treated by maverick plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe during the Second World War.

The 649 men staying at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead quickly realised the treatment they were receiving was largely experimental.

One of the patients burst out to his friends that they were little more than guinea pigs being tested on - and the club name was born.

The Guinea Pig Club stands as a testament to the amazing achievements of Sir Archibald and the strength, endurance and fortitude of the men he treated.

After leaving hospital hundreds of club members went on to marry and get on with their lives.

This was in spite of losing facial features - eyebrows, noses, lips, cheeks, ears and eyelids - which all had to be replaced by McIndoe.

But they never forgot their fellow guinea pigs and the surgeon who helped them. Their friendship and close bond has endured over 60 years.

Mr Allaway and Mr Foxley both live in Crawley and meet regularly.

Mr Allaway was a wireless operator in the RAF and Mr Foxley was a navigator.

They never flew together but in 1945 the pair found themselves in adjacent beds under the care of Sir Archibald.

Both had suffered "airman's burn" - a horrific injury where their faces and hands were seared off by burning aviation fuel and oxygen.

Mr Foxley's bomber crashed on a training mission in March 1944 when he was 20 and Mr Allaway, who was 21, was shot down the following October.

Their burns were severe but McIndoe gave them new faces, operating up to 60 times on each one over four years.

Their hands were melted into fingerless lumps but McIndoe's skills managed to give them enough dexterity to use them.

The death rate of severely disfigured servicemen from the First World War was almost 100 per cent but McIndoe had a spectacular success rate more than 20 years later.

He not only saved lives but also found ways to give people a good quality of life.

Mr Foxley, 81, and Mr Allaway, 82, look back with fondness on their time on Ward III at the hospital where McIndoe worked to heal their scars, both physical and mental.

Mr Foxley said: "The years being treated were the best of our lives. We never felt sorry for ourselves because we were together.

"We were all young, spirited lads and he wanted to keep our spirits alive."

Patients were allowed to wear RAF uniform in hospital and there was always a barrel of beer on the ward - burns patients need to keep hydrated and it was easier to persuade them to drink beer, then lots of water.

Mr Foxley, who has a glass right eye and partial sight in the other, said: "There was a great camaraderie. As aircrew you relied on teamwork and that same attitude helped you in hospital."

Many of the club married the nurses who cared for them, including Mr Foxley. His wedding to Catherine Arkell made the front pages in 1947.

He said: "Even though I was burned I didn't doubt I would one day marry."

Mr Foxley has short stumps instead of fingers but has the use of his thumb so is able to hold things.

He had escaped relatively unscathed from the bomber but returned for a crewmate.

His plane had taken off for an exercise but developed a fault at 300ft and crashed, bursting into flames.

Mr Foxley was able to get out but went back to help the trapped wireless operator before the plane blew up, killing three members of the crew.

Mr Foxley was wrapped head to toe in bandages and taken to an RAF hospital where he was singled out by McIndoe for extra treatment and taken to East Grinstead.

He had dozens of operations to give him new eyelids, brows, nose, lips, chin and hands but getting his sight back was the most memorable.

He said: "I was given new eyelids. I opened them and saw some daffodils that my mother had brought in. She started to cry when I said I could see them."

Mr Allaway married his wife Joan in 1948 but before that dated Sir Winston Churchill's daughter Mary Churchill, who later became Lady Soames.

Mr Allaway and Mr Foxley met Sir Winston in Montreux in 1946 when they were convalescing. The Churchills were on holiday.

Mr Allaway was shot down near Norfolk. Three of his crew died.

He needed new eyelids, lips, chin and a nose and when he first saw himself in a mirror he shrank back. But after intensive treatment he was happy with the result.

He and Mr Foxley know they owe Sir Archibald a huge debt of gratitude.

Every year club members return to East Grinstead for a weekend.

There are only 128 members of the club still alive and the youngest is 80.

A museum in the hospital has ensured the memory of each club member will remain.

Curator Bob Marchant has hundreds of photos, papers, medical records and items of medical equipment donated by club members.

They include a bullet removed from an airman's face, the original operating table used by Sir Archibald, mini medals and an airman's jacket.

Photos adorn the walls of the museum showing before and after pictures of badly burned airmen.

Mr Marchant said: "It is a job I am proud to do and it will serve as a lasting memorial to them."

The hospital unveiled a roll of honour last year inscribed with the name of every member.

The work done by Sir Archibald set a precedent for international expertise in burns treatment and maxillofacial surgery, which the hospital continues to offer today.

The highlight of this year's reunion, which took place last weekend, was the publication of a new book called Reconstructing Warriors by historian Dr Emily Mayhew, whose grandmother nursed many of the patients.

Members held a memorial at St Swithin's Church in East Grinstead to remember comrades less fortunate than themselves.

Dr Mayhew said: "McIndoe gave the burned airmen new faces, operating up to 60 times on each over an average of four years.

"He also operated on a scale never seen before or since. Over five years he had at least six new patients a week, an astonishing caseload."