Memories of a National Service Doctor

Dr John Lunn, at the outset of his National Service, could not have imagined the events which lay ahead. He writes of his first year in the Suez Canal Zone, the last year of the British Army occupation. He describes his experience acting as medical officer on the tank-landing craft sailing the length of the Suez Canal to Aqaba, taking military equipment to Jordan. During his second year in the army, he was on active service in Cyprus during the EOKA campaign. Two life-threatening events are recalled. The book emphasises Dr Lunn’s deep admiration for the bravery of the young National Servicemen in Cyprus when severely wounded and, also, how they coped with the loss of their comrades. He concludes the book by saying how much his life’s experience was enriched by his National Service and how it gave him a lasting affection for the British Army.

The author is a retired hospital consultant with a particular interest in diseases of occupation. He also undertook studies to identify reasons for failed tuberculosis immunisation programmes.

One of his early junior hospital appointments was to a specialist ward at St Mary’s Hospital, London, where pioneering treatment of tuberculous meningitis had commenced following the advent of the antibiotic Streptomycin.

He designed and had produced a simple, inexpensive, disposable vaccinating device which ensures accurate introduction of the vaccine Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) for protection against tuberculosis

As a result of these studies, he was appointed a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation of the UK Department of Health. He was also asked by the South African government’s Department of Health to review their immunisation programme against tuberculosis.

His commitment to his tuberculosis studies may well have been inspired by his own recovery from tuberculosis when a child. Before the advent of antibiotics, he spent two years in a sanatorium in order to overcome the disease.

He obtained his postgraduate doctorate degree as a result of the studies into the causes, other than flour, of respiratory allergy in flour mill workers.

His interests in retirement include recaning and restoring antique chairs, basket making and growing organic vegetables.