Positivity: POW meets man who saved his life
Published Date: 14 September 2007
The last time ex-military paramedic John Hamilton saw his comrade Jack Booth, he was holding him down to stop him lashing out in pain while his legs were sawn off in a life-or-death operation.
Having assisted with dozens of similar procedures under appalling conditions in the jungle camp’s makeshift hospital in Thailand, he thought no more about his patient.
That was until this week, when the 90-year-old from Northamptonshire received an unexpected phone call during a two-week respite break in Blackpool.
Mr Hamilton said: “I picked up the phone and a voice said: ‘You’re the bugger who chopped my legs off. I’ve been trying to find you for years.’
“I didn’t know quite how to react but it’s fair to say I was gobsmacked.
“I hadn’t a clue who this man was but he certainly remembered me.”
Mr Booth would never forget the day in 1943 when he was offered a stark choice after one of his legs became severely infected with a bamboo thorn wound and the other with an insect bite.
He was forced to endure the agony of the double amputation just to survive.
The 89-year-old is now a resident at the same British Limbless Ex-Service Men’s Association (Blesma) home where Mr Hamilton went to stay two weeks ago while his wife, Sheila, was in hospital.
Once Blesma staff heard of the amazing co-incidence, they arranged for the two veterans to get in touch and the pair agreed to meet on Tuesday.
Go here for the rest of the story.
