Page 18 - QARANC Vol 14 No 7 2013

16 QARANC THE GAZETTE
The King Edward V11 Memorial Hospital was small, single story, with a corrugated iron roof painted with red upright crosses between the invasion and commencement of the fighting. The windows had been covered with masking tape in the shape of a diagonal crosses to prevent the glass from shattering in the event of being hit. The single ill equipped operating theatre was old and had been unused for many years. Patients requiring surgery for anything other than an appendicectomy or a caesarean section were flown to Buenos Aries for treatment. During the occupation the Argentinians had set up their hospital in one of the local schools, so the RAMC surgeon and myself visited this building to see what we could salvage. To our surprise and delight it was a Pandora’s Box of surgical instruments and equipment. Many of the items were British made and easily recognisable. We sorted out what we needed and made up sets of instruments for our own use, especially laparotomy and orthopaedic instruments of which we had none. This was a huge relief, not knowing how we would have managed without this lucky unexpected “heist”! All the tents and equipment comprising 2 Field Hospital had been lost with sinking of the Atlantic Conveyer. In post conflict conditions, stores equipment and rations were in short supply. Water restrictions were also imposed for several weeks as the water filtration plant had received a direct hit. It took some time before normal production was restored.
Our day-to-day life was very busy. Soon after arrival in Stanley we were put under considerable pressure due to a horrific accident at the airfield involving 11 soldiers being seriously injured with multiple traumatic amputations. Fortunately the Hospital Ship Uganda had not left and was able to take some of the casualties for immediate emergency treatment and later transferred to King Edward V11 Memorial Hospital before being returned to UK by the RAF aeromedical team. Throughout those early months soldiers were suffering severe blast injuries from mines and booby traps left behind by the Argentinians. There was rarely an empty bed in the unit and we maintained such medical and surgical care as was required.
The weeks passed by, life remained very basic with few luxuries. The Army Catering Corps did their imaginative best with the supply of compo
Captain M E Barclay QARANC – myself, Operating Theatre King Edward V11 Memorial Hospital, Port Stanley. October 1982. (photographs 5 & 6 taken before arrival of new/replacement equipment had arrived).
provisions, dried, processed and tinned food. Fresh fruit became a dream, never a reality! The NAAFI was soon established in the West Store and able to provide very limited basic stationery and toiletries.
As the weeks and months passed by the RAMC surgeon and myself completely re-equipped and restocked the operating theatre, which included a new operating table, instruments, autoclave and anaesthetic machine. Towards the end of October we were able to commence routine operating and endoscopy lists for both civilian and military patients, and were now in a position to perform any emergency operation as required. This was a “first” for the islanders and a service for which they were extremely grateful and appreciative.
The weeks passed by very quickly.
In early December the BBC came to record a Songs of Praise programme in which I was featured, and Christmas was celebrated in the Falklands summer, which felt and seemed un- natural, but never-the-less enjoyable. My departure home, planned for very early January 1983, was slightly delayed by a welcome visit by our Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher. I left Port Stanley on the 18th January 1983. The journey this time was swift - by RAF Hercules to Ascension Island and a VC10 from there to Brize Norton, arriving in the UK on the 19th January 1983 - 37 years to the day after my father returned to the UK from his service in the Second World War. The adventure was over.
Regrets? None. The memories of a lifetime remain.
Major (Retd) Maggie Barclay-Cooke
Captain M E Barclay QARANC – myself, Operating Theatre King Edward V11 Memorial Hospital, Port Stanley. (Field Hospital Autoclave). October 1982.
British Official Photograph: Crown copyright reserved issued for British Information Services by Photographic British Official Photograph: Crown copyright reserved issued for British Information Services by Services, Central Office of Information, London. “QARANC – Falklands ‘82”. October 1982. Photographic Services, Central Office of Information, London. “QARANC – Falklands ‘82”. October 1982.