"I was very concerned, very upset, feeling rather annoyed with myself for having been shot down so decisively and for having sort of put myself out of contention. I felt, I don't know, awful feeling really, terribly isolated. I couldn't see, I couldn't hear very well. I couldn't recognise people unless it was someone really close to me. 

My wife came down and my mother came down. But I was feeling extremely sorry for myself which I think is a very bad thing for anybody. I felt so deflated just as though half my life had been taken and the half wasn't worth bothering with. It was, I think, the worst period of my life, but you get over it. 

I think the people in the hospital, one person in particular, put me on a much more even footing. That was, I think he was a South African, Godfrey Edmunds was his name. He'd been badly burnt. My friend, the chap I'd joined up with from school, he was in ward three at East Grinstead. He'd been shot down flying a Hurricane. He was in ward three. He'd heard that I'd been admitted to the hospital. He'd sent a message along, 'Could I go and see him?' he couldn't get out of bed his legs were badly burnt. Would I go and see him? 

I was on crutches at the time, but I managed to get over there with a hell of a lot of struggle and self pity. As I opened the door in ward three I saw what I can only describe now as the most horrifying thing I had ever seen in my life. That was this chap who had been badly burnt, really badly burnt. His hair was burnt off, his eyebrows were burnt off, his eyelids were burnt off, you could just see his staring eyes. His nose was burnt, there were just two holes in his face. His lips were badly burnt. I looked down at his feet also. His feet were burnt. 

I got through the door on crutches with a bit of a struggle. This chap started propelling a wheelchair down the ward. Halfway down he picked up a chair with his teeth. That's when I noticed how badly his lips were burnt. Then he brought this chair down the ward, threw it alongside me and said, "Have a seat old boy." And I cried. I thought, "What have I to complain about?" From then on everything fell into place."

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