大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Chris Comer of Stockport Libraries on behalf of Mrs B. Lees, Harold P. Lees widow, and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

Harold Lees story part 2 鈥� The health hazards of India

Harold had joined the RAF and trained as a fitter. He was posted to India and found himself in a transit camp at a place called Worli, just outside Bombay. He and his comrades had to get used to the range of health hazards that were prevalent at the time.

鈥淏ert had an uncle that had served in the Indian army during the early part of the century鈥�..He lost no time in telling us what his uncle had said. 鈥業t鈥檚 a filthy country. It鈥檚 alive with bugs and germs and things that creep and crawl and they all do their damnedest to get their teeth into you. Some part of your anatomy is always available. There are thousands of them of all shapes and sizes that can bite or sting or burrow into your flesh, all with painful and dire consequences and very often fatal鈥�.We鈥檇 be bloody lucky if we didn鈥檛 get a serious dose of malaria before we left India鈥�.Uncle still suffered from bouts of uncontrollable shivering 20 years later. And if we got repeated doses of the disease we might end up with elephantiasis鈥�.

Of course Bert said, 鈥業f we didn鈥檛 get a dose of Malaria it was a dead cert we鈥檇 end up with dysentery. There were millions of bugs lying around that infested all food and fruit and started you running like the clappers of hell for the loo. There was smallpox鈥�.Uncle knew somebody who got smallpox and recovered but his face was so disfigured that his fiancee wouldn鈥檛 have anything to do with him when he got back home.鈥�

Then of course we might get blackwater fever. 鈥榊ou鈥檒l know you鈥檝e got that if you start pissing blood鈥� Bert鈥檚 uncle said it was nearly always fatal. There was heat exhaustion. If you ever stop sweating you鈥檙e in trouble. They try to get you to a hill station and a cooler climate before it kills you but it鈥檚 touch and go.鈥�

We could get bitten by a rabid dog which was always fatal or bitten by a small snake called a silver krait which was nearly always fatal. Or we could get a dose of cholera that was usually fatal or we could be attacked by a cobra which could be fatal if not treated in time. 鈥楢nd if you鈥檙e bitten by one of those buggers鈥� said uncle 鈥榶ou鈥檙e never near a medical centre.鈥�

We could get stung by a scorpion and the affected limb would swell up like a balloon and be bloody painful, and if it went wrong, fatal. We were sure to get prickly heat which wasn鈥檛 dangerous鈥�..unless it turned septic and then we were in trouble. We would get dhobi itch, no doubt about that and probably athletes foot because it was caused by the same fungus as dhobi itch.鈥�

Came the inevitable day when when somebody got fed up with Bert鈥檚 repeated stories of uncle鈥檚 warnings鈥�..He went up to Bert and said 鈥業f you don鈥檛 keep you鈥檙e bleeding mouth shut I鈥檒l string you up from the rafters鈥�

He鈥檇 made his point because Bert never felt it was necessary to warn us of the health perils that faced us after that鈥�

This story is an extract from a manuscript 鈥楲augh I nearly died鈥� written by Harold P. Lees about his wartime experiences in the RAF. It has been reproduced with the permission of his widow Mrs B Lees.

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