PLASTIC SURGERY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 September 1941, Page 7

PLASTIC SURGERY

PHOTOGRAPH AS MODEL. YOUNG WOUNDED AUSTRALIAN. To help plastic surgeons restore her son's face, Mrs F. Welch, of Manly, Sydney, has sent a photograph of him to Egypt. Her son is Private Donald Welch, aged 18, who suffered facial wounds when a shell burst near him at Tobruk on July 21. He is now in an Australian Imperial Force hospital undergoing treatment which will continue for two years.

Writing to his mother and suggesting the photograph, Private Welch said he had been “chewing shrapnel and needed remodelling,” but on the original lines as much as possible. In spite of his facial injuries, Welch’s eyesight, hearing and mental facilities were not affected. Hospital authorities wrote commending his spirits and describing him as a “champion patient.” “My son was in the militia,” said Mrs Welch. “He wanted to enlist when war broke out. I refused to give my permission, so he joined under a false name. "When the authorities heard of it I gave my consent, but he had to put up his age from 17 to 21. He is the only male member of my family living. Foui’ Scottish cousins were killed in Dunkirk and a fifth lost his life at Bardia. My boy’s father, who won the D.C.M.. M.M., and Serbian Cross during the last war, died in Randwick Military Hospital two years ago. He was the fourth man to enlist in New South Wales in the original A.I.F.