Volume 9b - History of Anaesthesia Society

landings, he was posted to teach airborne medical officers the use of
chloroform, the only agent they were permitted to take with them,
His m role for the D-Day landings was in camand of a hospital ship
(Mspital carrier 64). In peacetd, she was the 'Amsterdam1 on the
Harwich to Hook of Iblland route. He trained his teams thoroughly; they
loaded and unloaded 300 Canadian sailors as mock casualties in simulated
disasters. Frm D-Day onwards he worked fmn the Normandy landing
beaches. The ship was anchored close in-shore as Casualty Clearing
Station for Juno Beach, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting. Many
of the casualties £ran Juno beach were French Canadians and,
consequently, his ccm~nd of the language was useful. Featherstone's son
landed on the adjacent Sword beach and was badly wounded. At 7am on 7
August 1944 whilst sailing from Juno Beach to Southampton, the
'Amsterdam' was shaken by two almt simultaneous explosions. 'The ship
broke in two, and sank in less than a quarter of an hour. The training
which the unit personnel had received was such that everyone behaved as
if on another exercise. Over 200 of the 260 ptients were savd; what
loss of life there was, was caused almost entirely by the explosions.
Tnere was no rescue ship about and no signal could be sent, It
eventually a naval launch came along, and a cruiser was called up to
rescue them. Henry was awarded the OBE for this exploit. His next
posting was to the hospital ship 'Empire Clyde', sailing between the
Mediterranean ports and the UK, ht ill-health caught up with him, and
he was boarded out on the day after V' Day.
Henry resun4 his pst at Birmingham General Hospital. He had been away
amst six years, hat he was still only 51 years of age and thile he ~ms
on active service others had taken over m y of the roles he had played
at local, regional and national level. Much of his private practice had
gone, so tm had his seat on the Council of the Association, though he
became a Trustee. He was still an enthusiastic teacher of r,?edical
students in his hospital practice and although he was the most senior
consultant, he would regularly anaesthetise for the minor operations
list done by the house surgeon. He tauyht the history of anaasthesia and
demnstrated the use of historical apparatus, including Hewitt's nitrous
oxide apparatus. He rarely used trichlorcethylene. He objected to its
price because he lrnew it was supplied , without waxoline blue, for dry
cleaning at a fraction of the merlical price. He spke highly of its use
in dry cleaning. He was contracted for four sessions when the Nations1
Health Service was introduced in 1948. He also continued his overseas
visits and was invited to present ppers at prestigious conferences in
Boston ard Montreal.
The Association of Anaesthetists awarded him the first John Snow Xedal
in 1946, and in 1947 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Lam
fran Edinbyh University as part of the Simpson Chlorofornl Centenary
Cameroration. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of
Anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1962.