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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Deena Campbell from CSV Action Desk on behalf of Mr L C Bate and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Bate fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

A group of Royal Navy personnel constructed a temporary iron lung to keep a young army officer alive until a proper one was flown in from Cairo. The iron lung consisted of a long metal tube with a rubber lining. This was worked by a large pair of bellows on the side. It took two Ratings at a time to work the bellows. They worked in shifts day and night. The young officer was in the Sudanese Defence Force and had contracted Polio of the lungs. I did not hear any more about the young officer but often wonder if his parents were ever informed of this event.

R N Base “Bull” was a Navy repair base. It is now an Ethiopian Naval Academy. The above event took place in 1944.

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