Award To Soldier Who Cut Out Own Appendix

Northern Advocate, 15 January 1948, Page 5

Award To Soldier Who Cut Out Own Appendix

BRISBANE, Thur. (11 a.m.) —A soldier who, without anaesthetic and with the aid of mirrors, took out his own appendix in The Malayan jungle, was awarded the Military Cross and bar at Government House. . •

He is former Captain Robert Kerr McLaren, aged 50, who is a veterinary surgeon at Bundaberg. Native guerillas stood by during the operation, which was done with an ordinary knife, and which took four and a half hours. The incident occurred after Captain McLaren, who had been captured with the Bth Division in Singapore, had escaped from Changi gaol and joined the Malayan guerillas. The citation included two escapes from the Japanese, in one of which he made a sea trip of 270 miles in a hollowed log, parachute landings in Borneo and the Philippines with intelligence units, and three years’ fighting with the guerillas.

Dave Sernds To Box Don Mallet In N.Z.

WELLINGTON.—Thu. (P.A.) .—Dave Sands, the Australian middle and light-heavy-weight boxing champion, is coming to New Zealand under contract to the Hutt Valley Boxing Association, according to a statement by ;he chairman (Mr L. Stewart).

Sands, who will be accompanied by his manager, Mr T. Maguire, will leave Australia at the end of February. It is considered almost certain that one of Sands' opponents in New Zealand will be Don Mullet, the New Zealand heavy-weight champion, to whom Sands would be conceding considerable weight. 1