Friday 6 March 2015

A Wounded Sapper


Saturday 6th March 1915: Sapper A. Harpin of the East Anglian Royal Engineers, who was severely wounded in the face at the Front on 20th February, has been brought to England, and is now lying in a military hospital at Dover. Mr and Mrs Harpin, who reside at Kempston, received an urgent message from the hospital to visit their son, which they did, and found him in a rather critical condition, but hopes are entertained of his recovery. He is unable to speak, but in describing his injuries, wrote that sixteen of the Bedford Sappers were selected to blow up a German trench under fire. When they neared the trench it was blown up by the enemy, and he thought all his comrades had been killed. Lady Bradford, of the Stationary Hospital, Boulogne, where Harpin was an inmate for a short time, writes to his parents: "I should be so grateful if you would send me a line or two later on saying what progress he has made. We are so interested in his case, and we do hope that they will be able to do a great deal for his injured face"(1).

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 12th March 1915


(1) Sapper Harpin seems to have survived the war. Plastic surgery on terrible facial wounds was being pioneered in this war and much progress was made in grafting flesh from other areas onto the affected areas and reconstructing faces to something approaching normality.

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