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Remembered Today:

Wound - BWR Lung?


GavinH

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I have been researching an officer of the 4th East Lancs Regt who died of wounds on 24/03/1918. His service papers include a 'Casaulty Form - Active Service' . This shows that he died at the 47th Casualty Clearing Station, and is noted 'BWR Lung' (or possibly BWK lung). Can anyone tell me what this might stand for. Bayonet wound right lung, is all I could come up with.

Thanks

Gavin

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Thanks Steve,

Sounds likely. I have come across the abbreviation GSW (Gun shot wound) which I thought would have been used in that circumstance? Perhaps it was just down to whoever filled in the form.

Regards

Gavin

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As a long serving hospital radiographer agree with Steve. Medics are inveterate abbreviation and initial users which sometimes confuses us when requesting an xray as some initals are the same but with a different meaning. Today all road injuries are RTA road traffic accident , TATT tired all the time, Cx sp cervical spine

Cxr chest x-ray (confusing) down to GOK -God Only Knows!! Right and Left are just R and L so Bullet Wound Right Lung sounds correct. Grisly detail- a bayonet would not penetrate the ribs into the chest unless placed precisely sideways on. Thats why bayonet drill always taught the lunge to the abdomen as the method of use.

salientguide

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Thanks very much for your informed reply. I'm sure your right. The forward companies of the 4th East Lancs were completely overrun on the 21st March 1918, so a bayonet wound was not unlikely in the circumstances. However, now you've pointed it out, the 'lung' part doesn't sound quite right for such a wound. I hope my interest doesn't sound distasteful, but I was trying to work out at which point in the battle he was wounded. The war diary suggests that most of those in the line on the 21st were killed or taken prisoner, but this man died in a British C.C.S.

Regards

Gavin

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Hi doogal you,ve got me with that one. Possibly chronic lung obstruction although thats not a term Ive come across but could cause general disability, possibly after gas or pneumonia.

COAD chronic obstructive airways disease is the modern term for bronchitis.

Any idea in what context or circumstances the initials were used??

salientguide

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Hi Salientguide,

I think the context will confirm some kind of gas related event:

In the line at Arras 9th April 1917.

reported sick 27th April. The war diary states there was a physical for the regiment on the same day he was listed as sick/casualty for the first time.

sent to divisional rest station

then admitted to a ccs by the 29th

then to hospital at Camiers and Etaples. (General No 19)

He ended up at Etaples for quite some time, and went to the UK in July 1917.

He was posted back to France right at the end of December 1917, back to front line duty.

Sorry about throwing in the kitchen sink and everything, but what has interested me is that for someone out for nearly six months, there is not a mention of his injury in his notes beyond the elusive CLO(Debility). Nor is there the slightest obvious indication by place and hospital of what exactly was wrong. It remains a mystery to me, but when all is said and done, like you, my conclusion is gas, although on the basis of CLO - chlorine, which is something of an uneducated guess on my part.

Anyhow, thanks for giving it a look. Perhaps the above will generate a clue I've missed. With thanks

doogal

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It remains a mystery to me, but when all is said and done, like you, my conclusion is gas, although on the basis of CLO - chlorine, which is something of an uneducated guess on my part.

Doogal

I wouldn't be sure about this. Chlorine would probably be Cl or, less likely, Chl. I don't think the Germans were using Chlorine in 1917.

Robert

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Hi doogal got the big medical dictionary out at work today but no joy withe initials CLO I,m afraid. Medical terms do tend to come in and out of useage and this may be one of them. From the medical history it seems he was suffering from general debility, ie generally run down and ill, not surprising the conditions so many lived under. It would fit in with a gradual repatriation down the hospital chain until the casualty was eventually considered fit enough to be returned. Such a condition may well have been precipitated by some such lung problem wether gas or pneumonia which was quite common and extremly debilitating, often fatal in those pre antibiotic days. Will keep an eye open for it elsewhere.

cheers salientguide

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Hi Salientguide,

Many thanks for chasing this one through.

This is very helpful. I will have a look at the unit history and the relevant war diaries - but now without adhering to the concept of him being directly gassed, which had become somewhat stuck in my mind, in spite of never quite being sure of this abbreviation.

regards

doogal

Hi GavinH,

apologies for sidetracking your thread - I hope it didn't detract from any of your research.

regards

doogal

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Doogal

Just to give you something else to think about - the L in CLO could stand for liver. Thus you get Chronic liver obstruction. This would cause a form of jaundice when the flow of bile from the liver cells to the duodenum is impaired.

This isn't a definitive answer but it is a possibility. It really would help if abbreviations were standardised.

Garth

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Hi,

Could the initials be related to shellshock rather than gas?

eg. Concussion ?

Just a thought

Thanks to all for the suggestions - any further ideas gratefully accepted

regards

doogal

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hi doogal probably nothing to do with concussion. Debility is a general run downess and illness. There were many unidentified diseases in the trenches caused by living in the wet and cold all the time, trench foot was one from long immersion of the feet, trench fever was another where unidentified temperatures aches and pains, often accompanied by a form of viral, rather than obstructive jaundice would lay them low. Most front line soldiers suffered from lice and it is probable viruses were transmitted by lice bites. One term from the time has survived today PUO pyrexia of unknown origin in otherwords hes got a high temperature and we dont know why. Todays cause is often an urinary tract infection but then unknown infections and viruses were the probable cause. The effect over a long period was to render the individual so ill and weak that eventually hospitalisation and often transfer back to blighty was necessary for a period of sustained recuperation as happened in your chaps case.

sg

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ClO, just reading a book on ww1, my own research, but have found this...

april, ?1914 following Neuve Chappelle Germany using chlorine, a killing agent avaiable in quantity? A 'vesicant' causing death by over stimmulating production of fluid in the lung, leading to drowning. ( a by- product of dye stuff industry) More info available but tooo tired to add now. reference : The First World War by John Keegan isbn 0-7126-6645 1998, Nel

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I have been researching an officer of the 4th East Lancs Regt who died of wounds on 24/03/1918. His service papers include a 'Casaulty Form - Active Service' . This shows that he died at the 47th Casualty Clearing Station, and is noted 'BWR Lung' (or possibly BWK lung). Can anyone tell me what this might stand for. Bayonet wound right lung, is all I could come up with.

Hello Gavin

I was unsure about this until a couple of minutes ago. I assumed that GSW = Gun Shot Wound and BW = Bayonet wound. I have just read a piece that states that man received "BWR.Arm", I read on thinking that this must be a bayonet wound but this was contradicted by an extract from a letter home by the wounded man stating that he had been shot in the right arm by an explosive bullet.

Andy

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"BWR" Lung ... probably decodes as Blast Wound RT Lung. Shell fragments may scoop a bite out of the chest wall (and underlying lung segment) as they pass by / through. The chest wall defect renders breathing mechanics within the afflicted half chest severely inefficient (even ignoring the artery passing beneath each rib in the chest wall, the large blood vessels entering / exiting the lung).

Blast shockwaves cause a significant transfer of energy as they cross a boundary (gas to solid, water to solid, or solid to gas) ... a blast shock striking kit / rifle stock as it lies against the body will bruise the tissues on the surface. More importantly, as that energy transmits through the body, it smacks the wall of solid and hollow organs differently. Similar to a blast rupturing an eardrum, a significant blast can rupture a bowel wall or cause a bleeding bruise to an air-filled lung (and liver, spleen hemorrhage). The lung segment affected fills with blood and the chap suffers the equivalent to drowning.

The lung fills with air on each inspiration because it sticks to the inside of the chest wall as it expands ... similar to a wet piece of glass on a flat surface you are trying to lift. If the integrity of the chest wall is breeched, the lung's moist adherence to the chest wall parts and the lung collapses. Add this collapse from a chest wall hole and the internal airspace bleeding from the blast's "smack" and you compromise that lung's ability to add oxygen to the blood. The heart still supplies blood to the injured lung ... it passes without benefit (provided it doesn't leak out). Shock and hypoxic death insues if repairs aren't made (not WWI capability)

Doc D

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april, ?1914 following Neuve Chappelle Germany using chlorine

Nel

Yes, Germany did start using chlorine in 1915. The gas was released from cylinders to produce cloud attacks. These were dependent on wind direction for effect. The wind favoured the allies. So Germany abandoned chlorine in favour of agents that could be delivered in shells, such as phosgene and later Mustard gas.

Robert

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I have just read a piece that states that man received "BWR.Arm", I read on thinking that this must be a bayonet wound but this was contradicted by an extract from a letter home by the wounded man stating that he had been shot in the right arm by an explosive bullet.

Thanks very much for the information Andy. As this is a contemporary use of the abbreviation, It would seem to be a strong indication that BW does mean bullet wound in this context.

Regards

Gavin

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"BWR" Lung ... probably decodes as Blast Wound RT Lung.

Thanks very much for your informed opinion. It certainly seems to be a plausible explanation. I think, in light of Andy's post, that I still favour 'Bullet Wound' as the meaning. However, I am keeping an open mind. Excuse my ignorance, but if the cause of death was a blast injury, would it be likely that only one lung would be effected?

Thanks again

Gavin

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