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Remembered Today:

Detailed Men’s Operation reports - July 1918


paul.pengelly

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Found these detailed operation reports in the  3rd Canadian Stationery Hospital war diary ,for the month of July 1918,wish there were more but only the one month.

Hope somebody finds who they are looking for.Good luck

 

 

 

 

A1484A8B-9F83-4C4E-8CD3-F4501EBBDEDF.jpeg

6A207872-20F6-4B91-B972-6D811AC620B7.jpeg

71235323-87F3-4DE1-BA9C-9FB330493A8F.jpeg

53A4CF48-4F80-4377-9D35-8C4C1A7FDBE3.jpeg

Edited by paul.pengelly
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From the month of July 1918 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital war diaries

-reports on 29 men,20 evacuated,9 died all buried at Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension

CA1E7710-FE01-4E86-BF14-28B9B2F355A6.jpeg

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Certainly interesting stuff - I think recorded/kept as still a quite experimental treatment but more evacuated than died it would appear, so on the right track it seems

 

Adding a few words to help any future searches:

  • Blood transfusion
  • Gum acacia
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And to help searchers, here are the named as recorded on pages:

Spradbrow, R. 52026, 8 Lincs

Richards, E. 50430, 7 R. Fus.

Brown, G. 21687, 37 Lab. Co.

Moores, J.D. 377070, 1/10 Manch.

Billington, J. 15145, 2 R. Irish

McMurray, 39681, 1 N.Z.R.B.

Robinson, 58810, 4 N.Z.R.B.

Ratcliffe, 66794, 1 N.Z.R.B.

Martin, H. 439554, 52 Canadian Bn.

Barker, W. 275056, 1/7 Manch.

Redding, F. 295095, R.G.A. 206 S.B.

Foster, E.W. 155272, R.F.A. D/155

Orton, T.E. 8, 1 Welsh Gds.

Hay, F. M. Capt. 1/6 Manch.  [Might be = Hay, F McK, D.C.M. ex. 44 - who seems to be Hay, Frederick McKay https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29326/supplement/10122 of Manchester Regt. who appears to have become became a Capt. Hay, F. M. in 1917 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30525/supplement/2038 ]

Lewis, E.R. R/2908, Anson Bn. R.N.D.

Ratcliffe, J. 63589, 1/6 Manch.

McBrien, A. O.I.R [McBreen, Andrew 55775, Otago Infantry Regiment according to CWGC]

Pickering, C. 56951, 2 O.I.R.

Hill, W.T. 246369, R.E. 3 F.S.Co.

Butt, C.W.H. 202573, 1 Essex

Liser, C.H. 103559, 10 N. & D.

Sutherthwaite, J.M.  52701, 2 N.Z.R.B.

True, W.H. 169035, MTASC. 95 S.B.

Cooper, W  9222, 1 E. Yorks.

Whatmough, J 241269, 1/8 L.F.

O’Donnell, C. TZ/6295. Hawke Bn, R.N.D.

Clarke, W. 42316, 1 Essex

Harris, A. Lt. 16 R.W.F. [Lt. Harris, Arthur Harold according to CWGC]

Milward. E. 81896, R.E. 93 Fld. Co. [Millward, Ernest according to CWGC]

 

Edit: Nice one Paul, see you have just put up more of the CWGC fatalities.

Edited by Matlock1418
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Thanks for the help Matlock1418 in posting all the names,my typing is not upto much,and my proof reading is even worse!,thats why I went with the easier option 

 

You may have noticed T.E.Orton is shown twice by mistake which means there is a ninth man missing that is 

 

Lt A Harris,16th R.W.F. (see above) sadly I cannot post his page.

 

Unfortunately my iPad seems to have reached the end of its "shelf-life" ,and is now just an expensive and stylish photo album.

 

 

 

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Been back to the 3rd Stationary Hospital Diaries to see if there was anything else on why they reported these detailed medical reports for July 1918

 

Seems these were very severely injured men who required a lot of operations for these they tried resuscitation on

1; cases of severe shock and haemorrhage,

2;cases of the above unquestionably moribund,but for whom we felt we would like to do something,although at the time of starting there was no hope

 

"The number of cases given blood transfusions was high and resuts were very gratifying,and exceeded our expectations,many cases whose condition was desperate on admission recovered and are now completing their treatment at the base or in England.

In the chest ward ...the results are most encouraging.Case after case with bad sucking wounds have made a splendid response as you will see by the attached reports."

 

Sounds like ground breaking work.

 

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Gum acacia was an early attempt at infusing what are nowadays termed 'colloids'.

These are artificial protein substitutes, being very large molecules, they remain within the cardiovascular system, maintaining blood pressure,

They don't leak out of the CVS as readily as salt or glucose molecules that are relatively small.

More detail:

http://www.kumc.edu/wwi/medicine/blood-transfusion.html

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Dai Bach y Sowldiwr ,thanks for that especially the link most enlightening ,they really were at the cutting edge

 

.Lawrence Bruce Robertson a Canadian  was a pioneer of Transfusions and set up early blood transfusion apparatus at 2nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station according to wiki

 

I have scanned their war diaries ,(well the appendices of each month) and cannot see any mention of him,although May 1917 has mention of a resuscitation ward,that will recieve 1)moribund cases,2)collapsed cases.These will be kept until fit for operation or transferred to the moribund area.

 

which seems to tie in with the usage at 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital,with great success.

 

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Had another look at Lawrence Bruce Robertson,apparently he was a surgeon at a childrens hospital,where he tried his first transfusions,war broke out and he enlisted, commissioned as Lt with the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station ,carried out the earliest transfusions while with the 14th Canadian General Hospital in autumn 1915.He developed the procedure and instructed a lot of other medical people,had a paper published in the Lancet.He went back to Canada as a Major in 1918 as he was desperately needed at the hospital,and to pass on his expertise

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CSM T.E. Orton Welsh Guards.  Taken from History of the Welsh Guards by C.H. Dudley Ward (page 225):

 

"Casualties were steady, a continual loss, although never very great at any one time.  The most severe loss was C.S.M. Orton.

Orton was a smart and most capable warrant officer.  He had exceptional organising ability, and whatever he took in hand was done swiftly, quietly and well.  He had been company sergeant-major to No. 4 Company until the end of 1916, when he was transferred to a base depot to train Canadian troops.  He was away for some months, and when he returned was posted to the Prince of Wales's Company, much to Arthur Gibbs's satisfaction.  No man ever deserved the meritorious medal more than he did.  He was an excellent soldier."

 

Praise indeed!

 

Rob

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Some more names from the above scanned documents #14 to help any potential future searchers:

 

Resuscitation and Chest wards

Capt. T. F. Graham, C.A.M.C.

Nursing Sister E. McDougal

Nursing Sister M.E. Haszard [ Mary Elizabeth Haszard,  http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B4149A-S058 and https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31448/supplement/8825 ]

Nursing Sister F. Gleeson

Lance Corporal P. A. Last

Lance Corporal F. Manning

Private J.R. Elgood

Private J. Mckelvie

 

Post-Operative ward

Nursing Sister E.V. Cameron

Nursing Sister E.J. Thompson

 

Edited by Matlock1418
Checked spelling of Haszard and addition of links
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Thanks for that robertb it’s nice to be able to get a bit of detail added.

Meritorious Service Medal ,saw M.S.M on the CWGC card and wondered what it was. 
His service number was it really no  8 ?,thought it was just wrongly transcribed,never seen a single digit one before.

 

Matlock1418:Thanks for typing those out to make it easier for any “searchers”

 

This Unit The 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital,was the unit that was bombed by German planes on the night of 29/30 May killing

2 Surgeons

3 Nursing Sisters

16 Other Ranks

11 Patients.

Doullens Citadel

These operation reports were carried out July 1918 -

 

 

 

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Yes he was indeed "No. 8".

 

MSM Index Card attached.

MSM Index Card.jpg

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There is a MID also.

MID.jpg

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M.S.M for "Devotion" - a fine accolade, and a fine tribute below.

Shame he didn't live to learn of his award.

RIP

6 hours ago, robertb said:

"Casualties were steady, a continual loss, although never very great at any one time.  The most severe loss was C.S.M. Orton.

Orton was a smart and most capable warrant officer.  He had exceptional organising ability, and whatever he took in hand was done swiftly, quietly and well.  He had been company sergeant-major to No. 4 Company until the end of 1916, when he was transferred to a base depot to train Canadian troops.  He was away for some months, and when he returned was posted to the Prince of Wales's Company, much to Arthur Gibbs's satisfaction.  No man ever deserved the meritorious medal more than he did.  He was an excellent soldier."

 

Edited by Matlock1418
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Thanks  Matlock1418 and for the pics robertb ,I know that obviously they used all the  numbers (generally at least 5 times each! ) but don’t recall ever seeing any with less than 3 or 4 digits before.

Mentioned in dispatches as well,excellent soldier indeed.

Judging from his injuries sounds like there was little that they could do to save him unfortunately.

 

Been back to the Canadian 3rd S.H.diaries again,they certainly saw some action formed 1915 they were sent to Lemnos to receive the Gallipoli injured ,based in tents ,with horrendous weather and sanitary conditions.They arrived August 1915 and had to lend half their staff to the Australian hospital as cover as they were all ill.

Dysentry among other things then struck them,the Matron and 2 Nursing sisters were hospitalised and sadly N/S M.F Munroe died Sept 8th followed on the 24th by the Matron Jesse Brown Jaggard 

     Then in the German air raid 29/30 May 1918 they lost 2 Surgeons,3 Nursing Sisters and 16 Other ranks ,as well as 11 patients in their care,one of the NS killed an A McPherson had only joined the unit 2 days before the raid.

 

 

 

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