Description
Object description
School notebook with ms account entitled 'My Last Night with the Regiment' (27pp, with ts transcription), as well as a copy of a later ts version (15pp, written in the 1970s), relating to his service as a Driver / Wireless Operator in 16 Troop, 'C' Squadron, 61st Regiment, Reconnaissance Corps (Royal Armoured Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Division, XXX Corps) in Belgium, September 1944, giving details of the day he was shot near the Albert Canal, Antwerp, with descriptions of the Belgian civilians following them everywhere, food, sing-alongs, nostalgia, sleeping in the open, his troop moving north in Bren gun carriers to Antwerp with an armoured brigade to capture a bridge over the Albert Canal (9 September 1944), details of the crew of his carrier, crossing the bridge under German machine gun fire, the driver of his carrier, Albert Matthews, being killed, taking over the driving and the carrier crashing in to a building, his horror as he realises he had been shot in the face and arm, with his thoughts at the situation, being taken by stretcher but the stretcher bearer being hit and dropping him, walking to his troop's first aid vehicle, first treatments in various medical posts and hospitals, evacuation by Red Cross ambulance plane to the UK, before being taken to the Rooksdown Hospital, Basingstoke, for years of plastic surgery. Together with: a humorous ms poem (13pp, with ts transcription by his daughter), written by him in rhyming couplets in 1943 and entitled 'I'm In It And How' about his joining the Army, his arrival in barracks at Richmond, being issued with kit, the food, jabs, the NCOs, CSM Bennett, Sergeant Ingle, and Corporal Lester Banks, PT with Corporal Bainbridge, his officer, Lieutenant Wright, and the Officer Commanding, and blaming Hitler for his being there; his Soldier's Service and Pay Book (AB 64); two copies of a portrait photograph of Thomas Graham in Recce Corps uniform before he was injured; nine graphic photographs of his horrific facial injuries (he lost his bottom jaw) in various stages of treatment (September 1944 – April 1949); a handwritten list of the nine RAP, CCS, ADS, and hospitals he went through between the 9th and 12th of September 1944, showing how casualties were treated and evacuated; a letter from the surgeon Sir Harold Gillies asking Tom Graham's permission to include his 'star case' in his book 'The Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery' (March 1955); photocopies of two pages from the book relating to Thomas Graham's case, including photographs and x-rays of his treatment; Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Assessment) record (9pp, 1950) with details of his appeal against the reduction of his disability pension and includes copies of his medical history from enlistment in February 1943 to discharge in June 1945, and the five years' treatment following his leaving the Army; a group photograph of his unit; a group photograph of staff of the Rooksdown Hospital, including Harold Gillies; photocopies of his Army Form B.102 (2pp, 1945), and his Territorial Army Record of Service Paper (4pp, 1945); three editions of the Rooksdown Club Magazine, a magazine for and by patients and ex-patients of Rooksdown House (16pp, 16pp and 20pp,1960 – 1962); four ts letters (4pp) from Ron Cunningham, Honorary Secretary of the Rooksdown Club regarding Derby Draw tickets and annual reunions (1960 – 1961); and his Reconnaissance Corps insignia, recognition flashes, and cap badge.
Content description
School notebook with ms account entitled 'My Last Night with the Regiment' (27pp, with ts transcription), as well as a copy of a later ts version (15pp, written in the 1970s), relating to his service as a Driver / Wireless Operator in 16 Troop, 'C' Squadron, 61st Regiment, Reconnaissance Corps (Royal Armoured Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Division, XXX Corps) in Belgium, September 1944, giving details of the day he was shot near the Albert Canal, Antwerp, with descriptions of the Belgian civilians following them everywhere, food, sing-alongs, nostalgia, sleeping in the open, his troop moving north in Bren gun carriers to Antwerp with an armoured brigade to capture a bridge over the Albert Canal (9 September 1944), details of the crew of his carrier, crossing the bridge under German machine gun fire, the driver of his carrier, Albert Matthews, being killed, taking over the driving and the carrier crashing in to a building, his horror as he realises he had been shot in the face and arm, with his thoughts at the situation, being taken by stretcher but the stretcher bearer being hit and dropping him, walking to his troop's first aid vehicle, first treatments in various medical posts and hospitals, evacuation by Red Cross ambulance plane to the UK, before being taken to the Rooksdown Hospital, Basingstoke, for years of plastic surgery. Together with: a humorous ms poem (13pp, with ts transcription by his daughter), written by him in rhyming couplets in 1943 and entitled 'I'm In It And How' about his joining the Army, his arrival in barracks at Richmond, being issued with kit, the food, jabs, the NCOs, CSM Bennett, Sergeant Ingle, and Corporal Lester Banks, PT with Corporal Bainbridge, his officer, Lieutenant Wright, and the Officer Commanding, and blaming Hitler for his being there; his Soldier's Service and Pay Book (AB 64); two copies of a portrait photograph of Thomas Graham in Recce Corps uniform before he was injured; nine graphic photographs of his horrific facial injuries (he lost his bottom jaw) in various stages of treatment (September 1944 – April 1949); a handwritten list of the nine RAP, CCS, ADS, and hospitals he went through between the 9th and 12th of September 1944, showing how casualties were treated and evacuated; a letter from the surgeon Sir Harold Gillies asking Tom Graham's permission to include his 'star case' in his book 'The Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery' (March 1955); photocopies of two pages from the book relating to Thomas Graham's case, including photographs and x-rays of his treatment; Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Assessment) record (9pp, 1950) with details of his appeal against the reduction of his disability pension and includes copies of his medical history from enlistment in February 1943 to discharge in June 1945, and the five years' treatment following his leaving the Army; a group photograph of his unit; a group photograph of staff of the Rooksdown Hospital, including Harold Gillies; photocopies of his Army Form B.102 (2pp, 1945), and his Territorial Army Record of Service Paper (4pp, 1945); three editions of the Rooksdown Club Magazine, a magazine for and by patients and ex-patients of Rooksdown House (16pp, 16pp and 20pp,1960 – 1962); four ts letters (4pp) from Ron Cunningham, Honorary Secretary of the Rooksdown Club regarding Derby Draw tickets and annual reunions (1960 – 1961); and his Reconnaissance Corps insignia, recognition flashes, and cap badge.
History note
Cataloguer SJO