I am new to this website! I have transcribed my father's RAF record and pilot log book into a spreadsheet and have found a number of information gaps. Between late April 1945 and 10th June 1945 the only entries I have are his arrival in Karachi (from Cairo via Basra) as a passenger on a Sunderland, and then a reference to being hospitalised at 151 BGH Poona. He then joins the 3rd Refresher Training Unit in Poona. I have tried to locate records for BGH 151 on the National Archives website without success. Can anyone help? Do such records exist, and would they show patient details? Many thanks Del My father: F/Sgt Frank William Cull
From: Hospitals WW2 - Scarlet Finders the author explains how the list was assembled, only for locations using a file in The National Archives. This thread might help to explain the procedures in WW2: General procedure for dealing with Casualties in War, 1939 Note there is no reference to individual medical records - which makes me suspect any records kept at a hospital never migrated beyond. I've only been here a short time and from memory no-one has ever found an individual's medical record. Being in India might another dimension, after independence who kept the records?
Thanks David. Yes. I got that far. But I was curious to know if there are patient records with dates and reasons for admission. A long shot I know!
There is a mention of Sunderland flying the route to India via Iraq in my post-war research. I have not looked at wartime use. There is a tale of a flight on: Recollections of SSgt Mike Hall, India, 1944-46 | ParaData Poona was and remains a large Indian Army base. Members would like to see the spreadsheet, so please post it here.
Hello Derek Not sure you will find his medical records as David advises. The question of medical records has popped up on the forum many times but without a substantial answer regards Clive
Thank you Clive and David. I read Mike Hall's account with great interest. Perhaps my father too travelled from Karachi to Poona in a Dakota; his second, as he'd already travelled from South Africa to Cairo in one. Once I have 'tidied-up' my spreadsheet I will post it here. My father was only 15 when war was declared, so by the time he gained his wings in South Africa at the end of 1944, and completed his training in the Spitfire in Egypt by mid-April 1945, action in the field never happened, despite getting to Poona in June 1945. Spitfire patrols over Hiroshima must have been 'memorable'!
Unless he died or was an unusual case , it’s highly doubtful he’d be mentioned in the hospitals war diary . It’s just a list of ailments treated and the number of ORs officers nationalities and services . If you do look it’s the WO222 file you’d want , the WO177 files are just about the hospital staff and admin
You never know your luck ..I’ve no doubt looked at it but I can’t recall it . If you don’t try you’ll never know . Best way to search is type in WO 222 gen hosp and that brings all those files up . Obviously type in the specific number too in another search , but hospitals have a very large spread of numbers at Kew with many other medical units in between and you may stumble across another file for that specific hospital misfiled . For example , RAF balloon units are filed as iraq levy units and they don’t change things no matter how often they are told
