From Hell Island To Hay Fever

Paul Watkins

Description

When celebrating his 106th birthday, Dr Bill Frankland was asked why he had lived to such an age. His reply was quite straightforward, 'Because I have been so near to death so many times.This is the biography of a truly remarkable man. Growing up in the Lake District, he qualified as a doctor in 1938. A year later he joined the Army, and served his country throughout World War 2. It was only the toss of a coin which saved him from certain death in Singapore in February 1942. Imprisoned on Hell Island he suffered terribly under his Japanese captors. After the war he decided not to talk about his experiences. Instead, focussing on his career in medicine, he worked for Sir Alexander Fleming, developed the pollen count and helped thousands of patients suffering from hay fever. An internationally acclaimed expert, he has treated presidents and paupers around the world.Using his own words, this book tells the story of an outstanding doctor, one who has lived through two world wars, served his King and Country and made major contributions to medicine.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: Brown Dog Books
• Date de parution: 16 octobre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785452666
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

FROM
HELL ISLAND
TO HAY FEVER
The Life of Dr Bill Frankland
FROM
HELL ISLAND
TO HAY FEVER
The Life of Dr Bill Frankland
PAUL WATKINS
Foreword by HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO
First published 2018
Copyright © Paul Watkins 2018
The right of Paul Watkins to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Published under licence by Brown Dog Books and The Self-Publishing Partnership, 7 Green Park Station, Bath BA1 1JB
www.selfpublishingpartnership.co.uk
ISBN printed book: 978-1-78545-265-9 ISBN e-book: 978-1-78545-266-6
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all who served with the medical services in the Far East War, 1941-1945.
The Prayer of Kohima
‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.’
Attrib: John Maxwell Edmonds
CONTENTS
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Early Years
Chapter 2 Dreaming Spires: A Student’s Life
Chapter 3 To Serve His King and Country
Chapter 4 Meeting the Enemy
Chapter 5 The Fortress Falls
Chapter 6 Changi
Chapter 7 Blakang Mati: Hell Island
Chapter 8 Returning Home
Chapter 9 Not the Retiring Sort
Notes
Bibliography
Source of illustrations
Index
FOREWORD

BAGSHOT PARK
It is nearly 80 years since the outbreak of the Second World War, and yet many stories of those who served are only now being told. Nowhere is this more apparent than in ‘Hell Island to Hay Fever, The Life of Dr Bill Frankland’ which details the most remarkable life of a doctor, who was born before the outbreak of the First World War. I am proud to be Patron of The Java FEPOW Club, who support our remaining Far Eastern Prisoner of War Veterans, wives and widows, of which Dr Bill Frankland is currently the oldest surviving member at 106 years of age.
After studying medicine at Oxford and St Mary’s Hospital, Bill Frankland qualified in 1938. Barely a year he later volunteered to serve his King and Country. Posted overseas with the Royal Army Medical Corps, he arrived in Singapore just seven days before the epic events of Pearl Harbour. Whilst treating those injured during the fighting, he was also responsible for ensuring many of the military nursing staff secured a safe passage onto a rescue ship moored in Singapore Harbour. Taken prisoner on 15 February 1942, he endured and witnessed dreadful suffering over the following three-and-a-half years. During this time he cared for his fellow prisoners despite a lack of medical supplies. Not only did he witness cruelty and torture, but on several occasions came extremely close to death himself.
Returning home in the winter of 1945, he made a conscious decision not to talk about his experiences, mindful of how fortunate he was to be alive. Returning to St Mary’s, he pursued his medical career and for two years worked as Clinical Assistant to Sir Alexander Fleming. He established the medical specialty of clinical allergy, developed the Pollen Count, and became a renowned international expert in his field. His work has benefited tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of patients the world over.
This book, based on Bill Frankland’s personal recollections, describes the remarkable life of an outstanding doctor, who has continually worked to improve the lives of his fellow men, both during war and peace.

HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO The Java FEPOW Club 1942
PREFACE
In early May 2017, Britain was heading towards its second general election in little more than two years, and the pace of political campaigning was quickening. In the midst of this, news was released from Buckingham Palace that HRH Prince Philip, aged 95, was to retire from royal duties over the coming months. He had served as consort to the monarch for over 65 years. This became headline news, and the following morning the BBC flagship news programme, Today , wished to consider the issue of ‘late retirement’ and sought the opinion of Britain’s oldest doctor who, some six weeks earlier, had celebrated his 105 th birthday, and was still working.
Dr Alfred William ‘Bill’ Frankland was living independently, but admitted to the interviewer, Justin Webb, that ‘he normally did not get up until 9am, before starting a busy day’s schedule’. He was asked why he had lived to such a great age. His reply was quite clear, and given in his typical ‘no nonsense manner’. ‘Because during my life I have been so near to death so many times,’ he replied. He went on to explain just one of those occasions. As a prisoner of war in Singapore in July 1945 he witnessed Japanese troops preparing to kill all their prisoners, on the orders of Emperor Hirohito. This massacre was only prevented by the dropping of two atomic bombs, on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945. During the interview, it was suggested that Bill should have written a book about his life, to which he replied, ‘Someone is writing my life history, they think it is interesting,’ causing Justin Webb to reply, ‘We look forward to that coming out.’
The seeds for this book were sown in August 2014 when Piers Storie-Pugh, the Chief Executive of the Not Forgotten Association, a charity founded in 1919 by Marta Cunningham, invited me to lunch with Bill. We met at the Royal Society of Medicine where Bill kindly hosted the meal; this was the start of his remarkable generosity towards me. I still have the notes from that meeting, in which Bill talked about his incredible life, touching on working for Sir Alexander Fleming through to treating Saddam Hussein, as well as describing his time as a prisoner of war. In March 2015 it was a real pleasure for Piers and myself to entertain Bill to lunch to celebrate his 103 rd birthday.

Bill and Piers Storie-Pugh celebrating Bill’s 103rd birthday. March 2015.
In April 2016, Bill was invited to speak about his career in medicine by Tim Mitchell, Chairman of the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Tim asked if I would host the session, and I was honoured to do so. Over 45 minutes Bill did all the talking, and enthralled and entertained the audience as he gave a wonderfully erudite and lucid account of his life in medicine, from his decision to train as a doctor through to publishing four scientific papers since his 100 th birthday. Having qualified 10 years before the foundation of the National Health Service, he was able to talk with personal authority on aspects of medicine which members of the audience had only read about in the history books. After the session there were many questions for Bill, including my own: ‘Who is going to write your life story?’ There and then Bill asked if I would and we have worked closely together on this project ever since.

Bill with Tim Mitchell, standing by the statue of John Hunter. Royal College of Surgeons of England. April 2016.
Over the last two years Bill has continued to show me outstanding generosity, providing me with first-hand detailed accounts of his life, and giving me unfettered access to a remarkable collection of material, especially his extensive collection of photographs, many of which are reproduced in this book. He has entertained me in his home, where at lunch I have always admired the napkin rings, which themselves have their own special story. His generosity has extended to invitations to Drapers’ Hall and to The Queen’s College Oxford, both very special places to Bill.
The result is a biography of a most remarkable and caring man; a truly outstanding individual. Wherever possible it makes use of Bill’s own words and recollections, although written in the third person. I make no apologies that the main thrust of the book is about Bill’s life up to 1946. It describes for the first time in great detail his painful experiences as a prisoner of war. At the same time it describes the experiences of others serving with him in the Far East, some of whom managed to escape at the Fall of Singapore (many with the help of Bill) and of others who paid the ultimate price for serving their country. Those of us fortunate to be born after World War 2 find it difficult to imagine such suffering endured by so many. The later chapters describe aspects of Bill’s life following the war. I make no attempts to provide an academic account of allergy, the area of medicine which Bill has worked in for over 70 years. There are plenty of well-researched articles and books, written by much better-informed authors than myself, which can provide the reader with this information. Along these lines I would draw the reader’s attention to Bill’s own biographical paper in 1996, entitled ‘Aerobiology and allergy – an autobiography’. 1 Instead, these chapters cover some of the other aspects of Bill’s life, including working with a Nobel Laureate, developing a field of clinical medicine, and some of his more challenging and adventurous trips abroad.
I trust that this book will appeal to those wishing to know more about the life of an outstanding individual who, during his own lifetime, has encountered so many changes, challenges, opportunities and upheavals, both in his own country and abroad. Following the Fall of Singapore he was imprisoned by the Japanese under the most dreadful conditions for three and a half years, spending two of these on ‘Hell Island’. I hope that the detailed accounts of these years will be of interest to those wishing to learn more about the war in Far East, but perhaps more importantly shed light on how Bill coped with such suffering, both during imprisonment and in the years after. There is undoubtedly a lesson for us all.
In this day and age it is very easy to overlook the con