They heal minds and bodies, but their strongest medicine is hope
In the final part of our brilliant series, how the Legion’s early work with war wounded helped inspire the Paralympics and later assist Prince Harry’s Invictus Games
THROUGHOUT its history the Royal British Legion has remained dedicated to its mission of creating better futures for all men and women who serve with the Armed Forces. This is particularly the case for those injured or rendered permanently disabled by their service.After the FirstWorldWar the Legion, which marked its centenary on Saturday, was faced with more than 1.75 million men who had returned home with some form of lifechanging physical or mental injury.
One of the greatest health challenges of the era was tuberculosis.TB was a long-term problem and more than 55,000 men were left suffering from the disease, of whom 18,000 had died by 1922. In the early 20th century TB was one of the UK’s most serious and urgent health issues. In the previous century one in every four deaths was from TB and the figures were only a little lower going into the FirstWorldWar.
A highly infectious disease of the lungs, in the main, it spreads rapidly in insanitary, cramped conditions. The trenches had proved to be an ideal breeding ground and many sufferers returned to similarly insanitary conditions at home. The poorer areas of big towns and cities were slums that became TB hotspots. There was little effective treatment until well after the Second World War and the best way to manage infection was to quarantine sufferers in hospitals, sanatoria and, later, special villages.
The Legion decided to create a village and, in 1925, it acquired Preston Hall near Maidstone, Kent, which became a TB hospital. In just three years, patient numbers had grown from 200 to 500.
Not all men suffering from TB needed permanent care and some were able to work. The creation of a village in which they and their families could be housed developed into a community with a church, restaurant, village shop and workshops, all built by the Legion, along with more than 120 dwellings.
PRESTON HALL became the British Legion Village and it was announced by signs on the A20. There is still a poppy factory on the original Aylesford site today.
Once the Welfare State was born in 1948, it passed into the hands of the new health service, though the Legion still had a representative on the board.
Responsibility for helping the disabled of the SecondWorldWar fell to the fledgling National Health Service.
Thanks to the strides made in the treatment of serious physical injuries, there was greater knowledge about how to treat cases of amputation, burns and those otherwise physically incapacitated by war. There had also been improvements in understanding shellshock, recognised in the late 1940s as a serious condition.
Yet of the 130,000 men thought to be suffering what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder, the Legion reckoned just one in four was getting the medical treatment they needed.
AS THE Legion’s magazine put it in October 1945: “To give them a pension if they haven’t one is no cure. If medical treatment is necessary, it must be made readily available to all, and it must carry with it no real or imagined stigma. And wife and family must be adequately cared for.” The post-Second World War rehabilitation strategy for the Legion was focused on helping men and women with physical injuries regain some control over their lives and have something to look forward to.
In the 1920s and 1930s the expectation for people with a serious spinal injury was that they would spend the rest of their lives on their back.
During the Second World War the Ministry of Pensions set up a hospital at Stoke
Mandeville to deal with cases of spinal injuries. Until 1944 treatment was poorly coordinated, and many sufferers died of infected sores or urinary tract infections.
Enter Professor Ludwig Guttmann, a German Jewish neurosurgeon considered to be the leading specialist in neurosurgery of his generation. He had escaped from Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of war and was given assistance to get to Oxford.
In February 1944 he was appointed medical director of the National Spinal Injuries
Centre (NSIC). Guttmann took full responsibility for all aspects of patient care, overseeing everything from catheterisation to physiotherapy and sport. He refused to accept that young men and women with spinal injuries could not take part in life in the future.
The British Legion supported Guttmann’s approach and sponsored several men at the NSIC, helping with wheelchair sports and trips to football matches.
As the patients made progress, they were moved from recreational to competitive
‘There had been improvements in understanding shellshock... but just one in four was getting treatment they needed’
sports. On the day of the opening of the London Olympic Games in 1948, Guttmann organised the Stoke Mandeville Games when 16 male and female patients took part in an archery competition.
Four years later, Dutch ex-Servicemen joined the games and with that the seeds of the Paralympic Games were sown.
They took place every four years and in 1960 were held in Rome where they were given their official title. In 2014, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, unveiled the Invictus Games in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, 66 years after Guttmann’s first Stoke Mandeville Games and 54 years after the Paralympics were officially founded.
The Invictus Games were inspired by the Warrior Games set up in the United States to allow injured ex-service personnel to compete in a wide range of sports.
Prince Harry was persuaded by what he saw and determined to bring a similar event to the UK. Having served in the Army for 10 years, he knew only too well how servicemen or women, their lives shattered by a debilitating trauma, find it difficult to accept the new version of their bodies and minds. Harry believed that to set up a Games event exclusively for those ex-servicemen and women and veterans would inspire them. It would give them and their families a sense of pride and community.
The difference between theWarrior Games and the Invictus Games is that the latter involves the families of the athletes who are supported by the Legion to attend.
Antony Baines is on the UK board of the Invictus Games. He describes the moment of arrival at a training camp, after dealing with the bureaucracy of the business side of the games: “It is a world of human resilience and the spirit is magical.
“To watch a triple amputee throw himself into the swimming pool and get to the other end is humbling. The impact on families is profound. More than one young person has said to me, ‘I’ve got my Mum back’ or ‘I’ve got my Dad back’.”
While the Games are funded by sponsorship and, until 2019, by the Ministry of Defence, there are costs borne by others.
Charity Help For Heroes assists in recruiting the athletes to represent the UK, while the families and carers of the athletes are supported by the Royal British Legion, which makes it possible for relatives to travel to the Games and take part in programmes set up for them while the athletes are training and preparing for the competition.
Holly Goodberry, the Legion’s Invictus Games Friends and Family Manager, has got to know many of them well over the last three years. She said: “We are around in people’s lives for years.There is nothing else out there like it. We know that behind every team member, there are so many people who have helped get them to the start line.A lifechanging injury or illness has a huge impact on both the individual and those around them – and we make sure they can be there to cheer them on every step of the way.”
PRACTICAL help comes in the form of paying for accommodation and tickets, coordinating travel to and from the trials and Games themselves and providing welfare support. Bearing in mind families come in all ages, there are specially organised tours that can be enjoyed by children, parents and grandparents alike.
The Royal British Legion’s work has left a deep-rooted legacy for generations to come. In its centenary year, the Legion celebrates the network of volunteers, members, fundraisers and partner organisations who share its passion for bringing people together to support, commemorate and celebrate our Armed Forces community.
The Royal British Legion has evolved and adapted over time, responding to the changing needs of the Armed Forces community and reflecting modern-day society.As it faces the next chapter, it is inviting a new generation to continue its vital work.
●●We Are The Legion: The Royal British Legion at 100 by Julie Summers (Profile Editions, £18.99) is out now. For free UK delivery, call Express Bookshop on 01872
562310 or order via www.express bookshop.co.uk