RAMC John Thomas Cooper's Service

John Thomas Cooper had been in the Red Cross as a teenager and wanted to be a doctor although there was no family money for further education. At the start of the war, he joined up early to ensure that he got his choice to join the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was sent to Bristol to train at the Blood Transfusion Unit there. Refrigeration of blood was just beginning, and the British system proved to be superior to that of other nations. He went first to Norway where he was billeted with a family in Narvik. He was evacuated when the British troops pulled out realising they could not hope to win against the advancing German forces. He felt very sorry to leave behind the Norwegian people he had met there, who were facing occupation by the approaching German Army. The British forces were loaded onto overcrowded ships in very stormy seas. He recalled having to jettison his kit as he boarded the boat as space was at a premium. He was seasick all the way back.

Later he was sent to a hospital in Palestine and afterwards to Egypt to tented medical units in the desert. He remembered having to attach coloured labels to injured soldiers straight from the battlefield, denoting whether they had been given blood (red) penicillin (yellow) anti gas gangrene (unsure) before sending them to field hospitals for further treatment. John remained a member of the Red Cross for the rest of his life.