SKIN FOR GRAFTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 136, 11 June 1945, Page 7

SKIN FOR GRAFTS

VOLUNTARY DONORS

(R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service.)

BOUGAINVILLE, June 6.

Two members of the R.N.Z.A.F. ground staff from Camp Rata, main base of the New Zealand Air Task Force on Bougainville, are voluntary patients for ten days in the Australian General Hospital here. They have offered their skin for grafting to help an airman who was badly burned in a crash.

The injured man, Warrant Officer P. R. Doody, of Auckland, failed to respond to treatment. His burns were extensive and his condition was such that his own skin could not be used for grafting. The medical officers appealed to the camp for a skin donor. The men were told that Warrant Officer Doody was a member of a unit based at Guadalcanal and had no close friends here who would undoubtedly volunteer to supply the skin he needed. The response was immediate. Before day was up well over 50 airmen had offered their services, and offers were still being made until it was announced that the donors had been selected.

Two men were chosen, Leading Aircraftman M. Gembitsky, of Auckland, and Corporal E. J. Harland, of Lower Hutt. They were told by the medical officers the nature of the grafting operation, that their part in it would be painful, and that it would take about a fortnight for their skin to heal. They did not hesitate. Treatment was begun today at the hospital by an Australian Army surgeon, who has had .wide experience of plastic surgery in England. The grafting will give Warrant Officer Doody a start towards recovery and later it may be possible to continue the grafting from his own skin.

Thanking the many airmen who offered their services. Wing Commander H. R. Wrigley (Timaru) said: "It was a fine response and it reflects in an unusual manner the team spirit in the service without which no organisation or operation could succeed."