Page 16 - The Princess Mary's Hospital 40pp book.pdf

The later years: 1974 –2012
The U2 crash: 1977
(7 December 1977) “As a result of a U2 crash on takeoff, the hospital received seven casualties and five bodies brought in dead. One casualty subsequently died from 95% burns and another, a non-entitled civilian, was later casevaced to the burns unit at PMRAF Hospital, Halton.”
The U2 crash destroyed the Ground Operations Cell and the Meteorological Office. Four Cypriot workers and the weather forecaster, as well as the USAF pilot, died as a result. Their names are recorded on the memorial in the Garden of Remembrance set up alongside the Air Traffic Control Tower.
The Beirut bombing: 1983
On 23 October 1983, an RAF Hercules airlifted 21 US Marines from
Beirut to TPMH following a massive suicide bomb attack in which 241 US troops were killed. A medical team from TPMH was sent to assist with the evacuation and triaged casualties on the tailgate of the Hercules under
air support from two helicopter gun ships. One casualty died shortly after arrival at TPMH from chest injuries. 19 Marines were airlifted three days later to Wiesbaden West Germany, by a US Air Ambulance. The remaining critically injured Marine was treated in ITU until he was well enough to be airlifted to the US on 30 October 1983.
Wounded US Marines being offloaded at RAF Akrotiri, en route to TPMH. This attack resulted in President Ronald Reagan pulling American troops out of Beirut three months later
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