HK Recovery

Recovery

About a week after the operation, I was transferred to #22 Canadian General Hospital near AAldershot. This hospital was totally different. There was absolutely no pampering. A ward consisted of sixty beds. There was one nurse for two wards in various stages of recovery. On one side of me was a man who had received a full magazine (8 9mm bullets) into his stomach. He was in total misery and maggots were driving him crazy. On the other side of me was a tank gunner whose tank had been hit by an 88mm shell. The concussion had blown him to the side of the tank. He had many broken bones, but the worst was the bruise on his hip. He was operated on and the incision on his hip was left open. He was a very sick man.

The system at #22 was that the patients did most of the work. They attended to most of the needs of the most sick including bed pans, food, drink, making of beds and dispensing of routine medications. They also mopped the floors. When I was well enough, I also played a lot of bridge.

I was discharged sometime in September. Unfortunately, the Canadian Army had been very generous with clothing at the front but had neglected the needs of hospitals in England. The quartermaster stores did not have boots, shirts, underwear, caps or uniforms to fit me. I normally wore a #3 uniform. All they had were #10’s. The waist of a #10 jacket came to my knees and the #10 pants came up to my armpits let alone the wrap around at the waist. However, nothing was going to prevent me from leaving that hospital.

I used my hospital pajamas as underwear, the hospital sippers on my feet and rolled up the #10 pants. On arriving in London, I went to the Beaver Club. There was a tailor shop nearby and the ladies said they could fix my uniform. They gave me a bathrobe and told me to come back in three hours. I then went to a barber shop and got a haircut. It was my first haircut since early June when I had clippers all around. Now my hair was about three inches all around. The tailor ladies did a beautiful job of fitting my uniform. That evening, I went to a dance and asked the hat check lady if she had any buckshee hats. She had lots so I selected a maroon paratrooper’s hat.

In the morning, I left for Leeds on my leave and then back to good old #1CACRU. The emphasis was on getting back in shape for the return to the regiment on the continent. By this time, the regiment was in the Antwerp area. We played a lot of basketball and I am the poorest of all basketball players. There were two sergeants from the 17th Duke of York Regiment who just kept hogging the ball. I would go for days without touching the ball. The emphasis for me was to keep low and avoid duties.