Memories of the 5th General Hospital
Mr Don Evans of Amesbury shared this story:
‘My late brother-in-law Eddie Lenard, serving with the 5th General, told me a couple of amusing stories. A crowd went to the Yew Tree at Nunton. Eddie and his buddy went in a jeep but another of the party followed on a bicycle. Came turning-out time, the guy with the bike thought he would not be capable of pedalling up the hill to Odstock, so Eddie, being a helpful sort of feller, decided to tow him up behind the jeep. Unfortunately the poor chap was unable to negotiate the corner down at the crossroads and subsequently became the first casualty at the Fifth General, with a broken arm and collar-bone!’
Mrs E Vaughan of Nemerton remembered:
‘My sister Eileen met and married a Sergeant Howard Bryant who was in the medical corps of the Fifth General Hospital. I too recall the parties and dances being held at the Fifth General, being just seventeen years old recalling that feeling of being somewhat hungry… the first taste of frankfurters, beefburgers and Italian meatballs, dips and the like, all so foreign to any of us then.’
Making their mark
Amongst the graffiti on buildings at Entrance B to the hospital, which are still in existence from when it was the 5th General Hospital, names from war time can be clearly seen scratched into the brickwork.
