Doctor for Friend and Foe

Britain's Frontline Medic in the Fight for the Falklands

Doctor for Friend and Foe cover

Doctor for Friend and Foe

Britain's Frontline Medic in the Fight for the Falklands

Description

A unique first-hand narrative of the Falklands war.

Rick Jolly was the Senior Medical Officer in the Falklands, setting up and running the field hospital at Ajax Bay, where he and his Royal Marine and Parachute Regiment medical teams treated a total of 580 casualties, of which only 3 died of wounds. The building itself was a derelict meat-packing factory, hastily converted to treat incoming wounded – both British and Argentine – even though two unexploded bombs lay at the back of the building.

Rick's diary of the campaign and its aftermath is a fast-paced and gripping account of war experience that covers the entire conflict from initial preparations and passage to the South Atlantic on the requisitioned liner Canberra to daily action reports, and observations and interaction with the key players of the conflict – Col. H. Jones, Brian Hanrahan, Julian Thompson and Max Hastings. Incredible human stories abound, as Rick, a trained commando, dangles from the rescue winch of a Sea King helicopter, saving lives on a daily basis. Yet he also confronts death in a thoughtful, reflective and considered way, helping others to deal with the trauma of war.

Now revised and brought fully up to date, this book is a unique first-hand narrative of a conflict that inspired individual and collective heroism among British armed forces, inspiring great pride in 'our boys' by the public back at home, but which also provoked – and continues to provoke – fierce debate.

Table of Contents

The Conflict: 1982

April
Warned for war
Initial actions
Journey to Gibraltar and requisitioning of Canberra
Conversion from liner to fast troopship in Southampton
Deployment South begins
Ascension Island

May
Canberra leaves Ascension
Preparation for battle
Final orders
D-Day (Friday May 21st 1982)
Ajax Bay starts up
First casualties
HMS Antelope
HM Hospital Ship Uganda
Injured Argentine pilot
HMS Coventry survivors
Ajax Bay bombed
First Battle: Goose Green
Preparing the dead for burial
The funeral
Fight for Top Malo House

June
Visit to Uganda
Booby trap at Goose Green
Canberra returns
Sunday services
'Blue-on-blue'
Argentine photorecce jet shot down
Forward surgery at Teal Inlet
Trench foot
HMS Plymouth strafed
Mass Casualty Situation: Disaster on Galahad
Getting the casualties out to Uganda
Some Swiss visitors
Fitzroy forward surgical facility
Final Battles I: Two Sisters and Mount Longdon
Final Battles II: Tumbledown, Mount
William and Wireless Ridge
White flags over Stanley
Gynae outpatients and Royal Navy help for Island ladies
The Red and Green Life Machine closes
Sorting out the chaos in Stanley
Meeting General Menendez
Getting the Argentine PoW medics going
Letter from HRH The Red Dragon
Helicopter solo
Canberra sails for England
Journey home

July
Ascension again
'Up Channel' night
Arrival at Southampton
Home

Aftermath
1982
South Atlantic Honours List Inquest
1983-95
Subsequent naval career
1996
Redundancy
Ship's Surgeon RMS St Helena/MV Saga Rose
1997
South Atlantic Medal Association (1982) founded
1998
President Menem visits London
1999
The Royal Visit to Buenos Aires
Argentine decoration
2002
SAMA82 Pilgrimage to the Falkland Islands
An audience with Her Majesty theQueen

Appendix
The Men of The Red and Green Life Machine
Operations and surgical procedures performed at Ajax Bay
Index
Map
Upper Falklands Sound & San Carlos Water

Product details

Published Mar 21 2019
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 288
ISBN 9781472841391
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Series General Military
Short code GNM
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Rick Jolly

Rick Jolly is a former RM doctor. His first book t…

Resources

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