| Admitted to: POW. No.39 Evac Hospital (15/09/44). RAF Hospital Wroughton (25/09/44). |
Date of Injury: 23/07/1944 |
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|---|---|---|---|
| D.O.B/Age when admitted: March 1922 (22) |
Cause of Incident: Enemy Action. Shot down by flak in a Lancaster. |
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| Transferred to QVH: 05/12/1944 |
Injuries: Fractured left leg. |
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| No. of Operations at East Grinstead: 7 |
IDENTITY CARD
This is to certify that the patient mentioned below and whose description is stated hereon is the authorised holder of this Identity card.
| Forename: Arthur |
Surname: Wolfe |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Service No: 157533 |
Nationality: British |
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| Awards/Honours: --- |
Patient Unit: PHU, RAF Morecambe |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Profession: Wireless Operator |
Patient Rank: Fg Off |
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| Death: 7th April 2021 |
Age at Death: 99 |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Rank: |
Dr Unit: |
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Known as "Red". Surname could be Wolfe.
Woolf joined the RAF in 1941, age 19. Woolf was among the aircrew taking part in the Normandy landings; some of his first operational flying.
On Woolf's sixteenth op, to Stuttgart the night of 24/25th July, his plane was attacked by a German night-fighter over the French-German border, which took out the port inner engine and injured Woolf. The pilot decided to abort the operation with the intention of returning to friendly territory to crash-land or bale out over. The flames from the engine spread fast and they were forced to bale out. Woolf was picked up by a French farming family before being taken POW and transferred to a POW hospital in Nancy, eastern France. The hospital was liberated by the U.S. Third Army, and Woolf returned to England. He was transferred to QVH two weeks later for treatment to gangrenous wounds on his left foot, caused by the solid cast his leg had been put in at the POW hospital. He spent fifteen months there.
PHU - Personnel Holding Unit
We've been looking through our collections, and discovered this 1972 photograph from the East Grinstead Observer, o…