Page 14 - The Princess Mary's Hospital 40pp book.pdf

vessel, starting in approximately 30 minutes’ time – the opportunity was too good to miss. In this short period, the hospital and station wives rapidly gathered our shirts, slacks and footwear and by the time the seamen left they were all decently clad. Again the evacuation went very smoothly,
all being removed in just over one hour’s time. That day Cape Zevgari resembled an operational beach head...”
Kocatepe (ex-USS Harwood), courtesy of www.i-dive.com.cy
The survivors were evacuated back to Turkey with the assistance of the
Turkish Red Crescent.
The Stork Specials
With TPMH very much on a war footing, and with the Sovereign Base Areas overcrowded with British refugees and families evacuated from Limassol, many dependants were evacuated to UK. There were some rather special flights:
19Group Captain Donald. Letter held in TPMH Archives, Kew. 20Group Captain Donald. Letter held in TPMH Archives, Kew.
(17 August 1974) Flt Nos 2556 (110 on board) and 2557 (117 on board) VC 10s: “These two flights were christened ‘Stork Specials’ as they consisted of pregnant women in the last eight weeks of pregnancy who were evacuated from Limassol. All arrived safely and there were no deliveries in the air.”
In total, the RAF evacuated some 9,000 civilians from Cyprus.
Happy Valley refugee camp
In addition to caring for inpatients from both communities, staff from TPMH were also deployed to care for some 8,000 Turkish-Cypriot civilians who had fled from Limassol and the surrounding areas (mainly Paramali). These refugees were housed in tents on the sports pitches of Happy Valley (the valley next to Episkopi Garrison, which was normally used for sporting activities).
“In all, 130 non-entitled civilians were admitted between 15 July and 31 August.”19
(October 1974) “The only department where the work has fallen off is the maternity division – where we are now delivering more Turkish than British babies.”20
The refugees in Happy Valley were to remain under the care and protection of British Forces until they were evacuated to Turkey and thence to the northern part of Cyprus by the International Committee of the Red Cross several months later.
Clinical overview and well-deserved tribute
TPMH played a unique role during this turbulent period, as the only hospital that could deliver impartial care to both sides.
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