Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Ian Patrick Crawford, (11 October 1933 – 21 February 2009) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

medical officer and expert on

preventive medicine Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

who was awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in cir ...

for saving the life of a Gurkha officer following a helicopter crash in the

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

Jungle during the Malaysia-Indonesia confrontation in April 1964.

Early life

Crawford was born in London, the son of Donald and Florence Crawford. He was educated at

Chatham House Grammar School (May Chatham House Flourish) , established = 1797 , free_label_3 = Merged , free_3 = 2011 , closed = , type = Grammar schoolAcademy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , head ...

and St Thomas' Hospital, where he qualified as MRCS and as LRCP.

Military career

He was a house-surgeon, casualty and

orthopaedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

at the

Royal Sussex County Hospital The Royal Sussex County Hospital is an acute teaching hospital in Brighton, England. Together with the Princess Royal Hospital, it is administered by the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. The services provided at the hospital in ...

in 1959-1960 until he began

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He extended his National Service into a regular commission, before seeing service in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

. He then began to focus on preventive medicine and

Malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. From 1968 to 1972 he was on the staff of the British Military hospital, Singapore, was an instructor at the RAMC training centre and a deputy assistant director of Army health in the Ministry of Defence. In 1972, he was offered an exchange assignment with the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...

, where he had a visiting lectureship at

Queensland University , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = Br ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. He returned to England in 1978 where he worked in the Army Medical Directorate before going to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as director of army health at

1st British Corps I Corps ("First Corps") was an army corps in existence as an active formation in the British Army for most of the 80 years from its creation in the First World War until the end of the Cold War, longer than any other corps. It had a short-lived ...

, where he served with many

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

medical officers. During this period he conducted studies into the effects of sleep deprivation, extremes of cold and heat and improving army uniforms. In 1981 he served as the Parkes Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Royal Army Medical College and he served in the Defence Medical Services directorate from 1984 to 1986, after which he was seconded to the Saudi Arabian National Guard from 1986. From 1989 to 1993, he served as

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the

Royal Army Medical College The Royal Army Medical College (RAMC) was located on a site south of the Tate Gallery (now known as Tate Britain) on Millbank, in Westminster, London, overlooking the River Thames. The college moved from the site in 1999 and the buildings are no ...

. He retired from the Army in 1993.

Later life

After his Army career, he wrote on preventive medicine and was a member of many charities including the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariner's Royal Benevolent Fund and was a trustee of the

Florence Nightingale Museum The Florence Nightingale Museum is located at St Thomas' Hospital, which faces the Palace of Westminster across the River Thames in South Bank, central London, England. It is open to the public five days a week, Wednesday to Sunday 10:00am u ...

. He hosted former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

in 1991 at the centenary celebration of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical diseases. He also became a chairman of the Cocking Parish Council. In January 2003, he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and was confined at Holy Cross Hospital, Haslemere for the last five years of his life. He was survived by his wife, Juliet James, whom he married in 1956 and had two sons and a daughter.

Honours and decorations

He was made a Queen's Honorary Physician in 1991 and a Member of the Order of St. John in 1992.

George Medal

Patrick Crawford's knife that was used to amputate arm

. On 20 April 1964, while serving as a Captain, he was attached to the 1/7 Gurkha Regiment as the Regimental Medical Officer in

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

when the

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

he was travelling in suffered engine failure, crushing the arm of Major Eric Smith (Army officer), always known as "Birdie" Smith. He amputated Smith's right arm without

morphia Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. The ...

, and stayed with Smith until they were evacuated by helicopter to Simmanggang. Despite complete exhaustion, he helped with surgery at Simmanggang and at Kuching. Crawford had already assisted six Gurkha soldiers to escape from the wreckage of the helicopter, there was a great danger of the remnants of the helicopter going up in flames, before he found Smith badly injured, trapped in the wreckage, and saved his life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Patrick 20th-century English medical doctors 1933 births 2009 deaths British Army major generals Royal Army Medical Corps officers Recipients of the George Medal British Army personnel of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation Medical doctors from London English Anglicans Military personnel from London