DUNKIRK MEN TOUGH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 213, 16 September 1940, Page 7

DUNKIRK MEN TOUGH

MEDICAL JOURNAL'S TRIBUTE A tribute to the toughness of the soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk is paid in an account of the work of the emergency medical service, as seen from one of the sector head-* quarters and published in the British Medical Journal. Cases treated in sector hospitals during 12 days numbered 1873. Despite the fact that nearly half of this total had received no treatment other than first aid before they reached the sector hospitals and that they were carried in ambulances over distances from 30 to 60 miles, the death-rate was very low. Only 53 patients died—approximately 1.6 per cent, of the totaL "The wonderful spirit and recuperative powers of the troops„ bolth French and British impressed everyone," says the report. One group of patients had their boat from Dunkirk sunk and were thrown into the sea. They then were ! rescued by another craft, which in its turn was also sunk. After two and a half hours' immersion the men were finally rescued and brought to land, "It is good to know from the subsequent history of these cases that their unusual adventures did not retard their recovery," adds the report.