I DO look forward to your Heritage column and your article about the Royal Victoria Military Hospital at Netley published this week (11 January) concerned a subject that is very dear to my heart.
My father was injured at the Battle of Gavrelle, Arras, in 1917 and returned to Southampton and spent some time at Netley with a shrapnel injury to his elbow. He spent much of his time being treated at the British Red Cross hospital huts but also enjoyed trips over to the West Cliff Hotel at Hythe to recuperate. After many operations he was later discharged and found work on the docks at his home town of Goole. My father died at the age of 73 but his shrapnel wound never did heal.
By strange coincidence I settled down in Southampton after a posting to RAF Calshot and in 1961 my father came down and stayed with us for a few weeks. In that time we visited many sights to show him. After his death in 1967 I obtained all of his wartime records of his time in the Drake Battalion and found everything about the stay at Netley and Hythe, but not once during his stay with us did he mention the two places!
Bill Bunting
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