| Admitted to: POW. French Hospitals, Brest and Paris. Bad Soden Hospital. Stalag Luft 3. RAF Hospital Weeton (16/09/44) |
Date of Injury: 10/12/1943 |
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| D.O.B/Age when admitted: 19/12/1920 (23) |
Cause of Incident: Enemy Action. Shot down by enemy flak ship in a Hudson on ops over Brest. |
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| Transferred to QVH: October 1944 |
Injuries: Burns to face, hands and legs. |
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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: Maurice William |
Surname: Buttler |
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| Service No: 117715 |
Nationality: British |
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| Awards/Honours: --- |
Patient Unit: PHU, RAF Morecambe |
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| Profession: Observer |
Patient Rank: Flt Lt |
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| Death: 2001 |
Age at Death: 80yrs |
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| Dr Rank: |
Dr Unit: |
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Buttler and his crew were returning from an operation, in heavy cloud. They were given a course to get back to base at St. Eval, Cornwall when they came into radio range and decided to duck under the cloud and fly along the coast. They emerged from cloud over a German protected convoy and were immediately shot at, setting parts of the plane on fire. They decided to make for the distant coastline (Brittany, France) and make a belly landing as close to a road as possible. Buttler cracked his head on the corner of an extra fuel tank in the hold as the plane landed. Two of the local villagers, Jo Le Roy and Henri Cornu, managed to get the crew to safety, out of the burning plane.
Buttler spent about 20 months in hospital in Brest, Paris, Bad Soden and three others. In Bad Soden he was treated by an eye-surgeon working off a correspondence course from East Grinstead.
Buttler returned to England via Sweden in September 1944 and came to QVH in October.
PHU - Personnel Holding Unit
We've been looking through our collections, and discovered this 1972 photograph from the East Grinstead Observer, o…