A GOOD MAN NEVER DIES
Eduardo
C. Gerding
Surgeon
Captain Rick Jolly (1946-2018)
A good man never dies--
In worthy deed and prayer
And helpful hands, and honest eyes,
If smiles or tears be there:
Who lives for you and me--
Lives for the world he tries
To help--he lives eternally.
A good man never dies.
In worthy deed and prayer
And helpful hands, and honest eyes,
If smiles or tears be there:
Who lives for you and me--
Lives for the world he tries
To help--he lives eternally.
A good man never dies.
James
Whitcomb Riley(1849-1916)
Richard Tadeusz Jolly was
on October 29th, 1946 in Hong Kong and brought up in Singapore. The
son of a Polish prisoner-of-war held by the Japanese for five years, he was
educated at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. 4
Stonyhurst College is a coeducational Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to
the Jesuit tradition. The college was founded in 1593 by Father Robert Persons SJ at St Omer,at a time when penal laws prohibited Catholic education in England. After moving to Bruges in 1762 and Liège in 1773, the college moved to Stonyhurst in 1794. 7
Stonyhurst College
https://www.google.com.ar/search?q=stonyhurst+college&rlz=1C1AWFA_enAR753AR753&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwia7em21ezYAhWCl5AKHUobBlMQ7AkIRA&biw=1680&bih=870#imgrc=rvqIGeO
Jolly studied medicine at
St Bartholomew’s Hospital qualifying as a doctor in 1969. 4
St Bartholomew's Hospital, also known simply as Barts and
later more formally as The Royal
Hospital of St Bartholomew, is a hospital located at Smithfield in the City of London and founded in 1123.
In 1970 Dr Jolly married to
nurse Susie
Matthews .4,6
The couple’s only child,
James, died in 1989 aged 17 from a hereditary disease. “James died at home in our arms. Susie and I had been there for his
entry into the world and it was a fierce privilege to see him out — but also a
Garden of Gethsemane that still brings grey, empty and aching days,” he
said later. “I was fulfilled by war, and,
despite the sadness, by the experience of James’s death. I’ve looked inside
myself and I’m at peace now. I’m not looking any more.” 4
Rick Jolly joins the Royal Marines
Jolly entered on a
five-year short commission as a Surgeon Lieutenant, then, in 1972, completed
the arduous commando course — reputed to be the toughest in the world — earning
himself the coveted green beret. Despite this he refused to carry a gun during
the Falklands conflict, explaining that he was there to save lives not take
them.
His first postings included
being medical officer to 42 Commando RM in Belfast. He also served with the
Fleet Air Arm and as medical officer at Britannia Royal Naval College
Dartmouth. He briefly left the service in the late 1970s but was recalled to
command the Royal Marines Medical Squadron in 1980. 4
Dr Jolly: The man
Jolly was a strapping man,
brave, personable and eloquent. He liked spicy curry and a gin and tonic. By
always putting his men before all else, he invariably garnered their loyalty.
But it was the attributes of kindness and thoughtfulness that defined his life
and ensured his successful leadership at Ajax Bay. 4
He had a fine sense
of humor: In Chap 47 Instructions for Medical officers:If arduous duty had been undertaken such as
recovery of survivors or bodies by a seabot crew, and where the CO and medical officer
concurred, two thirds of a gill of comercial spirit could be issued at public
expense to each of those personnel involved. The rules said nothing about
the CO and medical officer being the same person! 5
He still recalled how
Dr. Peter Mayner the Canberra ship´s surgeon rescued him with an injection for sea sickness. And
also how was he ready to die for Surgeon Captain (Frank)Roger Wilkes who apologized
for the bad things he said on Jolly´s arrival and offered a sparkling gin and
tonic in each hand. 5
The beginning 5
In his book Doctor for Friend and Foe, Jolly
describes how his Falklands campaign began
just before 5 in the morning in April 2nd. He was called by Lieutenant
Colonel Ivar Hellberg the Commanding Officer(CO)of the Commando Logistic
Regiment,Royal Marines. He would remember as well the cheerful can do attitude
by Caoptain Chs Kirton,the Mobilization Stores Officer at Ludgershall. Dr Jolly
was never carried out by the stereotype imposed on Argentines and described then
by a history graduate. Instead he did some reasearch in which he found that
there was no predisposing ill will
towars Great Britain amongst masses in Argentina and, what´s more ,in Buenos
Aires he found there were even public buildings that bore the stamp of British
arquitechture and design. He rembered as well the advise of Marine Garcia who
was raised in South America telling: ¨these
guys will not negotiate from what they perceive is a position of strength¨.
It was of an utmost
importance for him to train his men in gunshot wounds through colourslides. A
process which was called The Doc Jolly´s
Horror Show.
Dr Jolly was kind but
firm as he had to deal with old prejudices betwen red and green berrets. Anyone
who wouldn´t stick to his orders would be sacked. We now had just one purpose in life to ensure that they did not die of
their wounds
Things were not easy
as he had to face as well the action of an unco-operative senior colleague who
confused seniority(a quality base don time in Rank)and command (A specific set
of powers and responsabilities vested or delegated by Her Majesty´s authority
in an individual)
Dr Jolly described
his first war casualty as an idle idiot
of a fire sentry in Europic Ferry who had been playing with a grenade
detonator. Out of boredom he removed
the firing pin, then tried to replace it.
The explosión blews everal fingers off
and also drove metal fragments into his face and chest
Medical observations 5
To his amazement he
found that the concept of delayed primary
suture was not know among the medical and nursing staff of the Uganda but
the same mistake was observed among Argentine patients treated by their own
doctors.
His group was
critisised for not observing and recording core temperatura,blood pressure,
pulse rate and haemoglobin levels in each of the wounded men at Ajax Bay. One
editor even used this fact as justifiction for rejecting their results for
publication. Jolly said: If only those
self appointed experts could have been transported from their ivory towers
straight to the bloody realitis of Teal Inlet, Fitzroy and Ajax Bay
HMS Ardent (May 21st, 1982)
The HMS Ardent suffered three attack waves.
The third on May 21 at 15.01hs by six A-4Q Skyhawks of the EA33.
Surgeon Commander Rick
Jolly watched as the Royal Navy Type 21 Frigate was engulfed by fire. He was
hovering near by in a Wessex helicopter hunting for casualties to take back to
the Task Force hospital ship SS Canberra.
4
Despite wearing neither a
proper life jacket nor an immersion suit, Jolly insisted on being winched down
to pluck two men who had escaped from HMS
Ardent from the freezing South Atlantic waters. 4
HMS Ardent medical officer Surgeon Lieutenant
Simon Ridout was missing presumed dead . 5
La
HMS Ardent burned all night and finally sunk at 04.30 on
May 21.
Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones (May 28th, 1982)
Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones, VC, OBE (14 May 1940 –
28 May 1982), known as H. Jones,
was a British Army officer and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC). He was awarded the VC
after being killed in action during the Battle of Goose Green for his actions
as commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment. It was Jolly who closed the
eyes of Colonel “H” Jones VC, the commander of 2 Para. 4
The Red and
Green Life Machine field hospital
Ajax Bay is a
settlement on East Falkland.
It is on the north west coast, on the shore of San Carlos Water, a few miles from Port San Carlos. It was mainly a refrigeration plant, and was
developed by the Colonial Development Corporation in the 1950s, which was
also responsible for developing Port Albemarle.
Many of the pre-fabricated houses were moved to Stanley. During the conflict, the first
British bridgehead was established on San Carlos Water. Ajax Bay was one of
three landing points, and codenamed "Red Beach" as part of Operation Sutton.
The facilities at Ajax Bay were set up in a disused mutton factory (which
had been empty for 30 years) . This last was situated next to an ammunition
dump, as those were the only roofed buildings available of any size fit for
purpose. 2
The red was for the maroon
berets of the airborne community and green for those of the commando brigade.4
As the nearby ammunition dump
was a legitimate target, the British land commander, then Brigadier Julian
Thompson, ordered that no red cross be painted on the hospital’s tin roof, in
line with the Geneva Convention.
Three days after it opened,
an Argentine Skyhawk jet hit the former refrigeration unit with two bombs,
which sat unexploded in the rafters as bullets were removed from patients
below. 4
Over the coming weeks of
the Falklands conflict, Jolly the senior
medical officer of 3 Commando Brigade RM and his 120-strong team treated more than
1,000 injured soldiers, sailors and airmen.(Humane) losing just three
patients, according to a government-commissioned history of the conflict. 6 . Only three of the 580 British
soldiers and marines wounded in action were to die of their wounds and none
while under the care of Dr Jolly. 2
Casualties from the battles
at Goose Green, Mount Harriet and Mount Longdon, as well as 120 men from the
crippled RFA Sir Galahad, were all
dealt with successfully in these basic conditions.
The Falklands war veteran Simon Weston said: “Without his organisational skills, the surgeons and medics would
never have functioned. I can only thank him for saving my life and many
others.”2
‘Humanity after victory,’ was Lord Nelson’s prayer before Trafalgar and that’s
what we had,” he said of the Falklands field hospital. 4
The treatment of Argentine casualties
With
his team Dr Jolly operated more tan 300 casualties of which 78 were Argentine
soldiers. 10
“We looked
after the Argentinians like our own. Our ships even took them home before us: a
first in the history of war.” 4
“Many of the
Argentine conscripts were very frightened and suspicious when they came to us,”
5
“People assume you’ve got to hate your enemy but that couldn’t be
further from the truth,” he told Britain’s Sunday Mirror in 2012. “The only
people who know what you’re going through are the people on the other side. 6
“When I have been asked what I would have done if I
had to choose between who to treat first — an Argentine or a Brit — my reply
has always been I would have treated whoever was in most urgent need of
attention.“As far as I am concerned you have to be able to look into your soul
and like what you find there.” 4
Dr. Jolly´s first Argentine casualty
His first Argentine
casualty was a young pilot of a Skyhawk A4C, Lieutenant Ricardo ¨Tom¨ Lucero
(C-319), shot down by a missile Rapier . Lucero was badly injured when he
ejected into the water. The Royal Marines raced to get him, dragged him into a
boat and took him back to HMS Intrepid
(the same ship he attacked) and then to Ajax Bay. Jolly said : It made me feel
sick to think that Royal had been pointing a rifle at the chap instead of
helping him. Lucero´s left kneecap was
about four inches away from its customary position.
Jolly welcomed him. “I said, ‘Here you are among friends’ .
. . He looked at me and you could see he
didn’t really believe it and thought I was going to set him up for a little
torture perhaps.”
Instead Jolly ensured that
a message reached Lucero’s wife, Marta, informing her that he was alive and had
been taken prisoner. Lucero credited the British with saving his life.
Lucero died on March 3,
2010 in a plane crash while fumigating a soy field in the Sacanta area at about 125 Km south of the
province of Cordoba. 4,5,9
Personal considerations 5
Dr Jolly said: It suddenly struck me, with total clarity
that I was watching history in the making, as well as the phenomenon of history
repeating itself.
I picked myself up off the floor sat on
the canvas seating, and brerathed a huge sigh of pride and relief, realising
that I had now done at least one genuinely useful thing in my life. As a team
and against the odds we had saved another human being from death!
Dr. Jolly leaves the Royal Navy
Jolly left the Royal Navy
in 1996 when he helped to found the South
Atlantic Medal Association — he was its first chairman — and led a group of
250 Task Force veterans on a visit to the Falklands to mark the 20th
anniversary of the conflict. He also raised money for the cause by delivering
talks around the country.4
Books
Jolly’s books included The Red and Green Life Machine: A Diary of
the Falklands Field Hospital (1984) which sold 40,000 copies, Jackspeak: a Guide to British Naval Slang
and Usage(2011), which is still in print and explains such terms as
“scab-lifter” (doctor), “a drop of roughers” (heavy seas) and “bum nuts”
(eggs).(Humane and)and Doctor for friend
and foe (2012).
Decorations
Jolly was awarded an OBE in
the 1983 South Atlantic Honours List and was later promoted to the rank of
Surgeon Captain. Sixteen years later, he visited Argentina with the Prince of
Wales and was presented with the Orden de
Mayo in gratitude. The Orden de Mayo is given to "The virtue, the merits of the people who promote the special
recognition of the Nation and of humanity, as well as to reward eminent
services by those to the Nation.". Dr Jolly was the only one awarded
by both countries. “We are the
people who understand how nasty and miserable war is.” 2
Given that this was a
foreign decoration, Jolly was required to write to the Queen to request her
permission to wear the medal with his other awards. She assured him that he
should wear it “on all occasions”.4
Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly with his medals from Argentina and Britain,
1999 –Credit:
Sam Morgan Moore.- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/01/14/surgeon-captain-rick-jolly-naval-surgeon-falklands-war-obituary/
8
Death
Dr Jolly died from complications
arising out of long-term ill health, on January 13, 2018, aged 71 at his home
in Torpoint,
Cornwall 2,4 . His death was
reported by British news organizations, including the Times and Telegraph
newspapers, which did not give a precise cause. 1,6
Regarding death,
Gabriel Rockhill professor of philosophy at Villanova University and founding director of
the Atelier de Théorie Critique at the Sorbonne in Paris stated
: There is, as well, a psychosocial
dimension that survives our biological withdrawal, which is visible in the
impact that we have had — for better or worse — on all of the people around us.
In living, we trace a wake in the world. This could be very well applied to
Dr.Jolly´s kind soul. 3
Bibliography
- Boyle, Darren-Falklands war hero surgeon who was honoured by both British and Argentine authorities has died aged 71-DailyMail-14 January 2018.
- Dodd, Vikram- Falklands hero surgeon Rick Jolly dies aged 71-The Guardian- Sun 14 Jan 2018 .
- Rockhill, Gabriel-Why we never die-The Stone-Aug 29, 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/29/opinion/why-we-never-die.html
- Humane and courageous naval officer decorated by Britain and Argentina after the Falklands conflict for saving the wounded of both nations-The Times-January 15 2018.
- Jolly,Rick-Doctor for friend and foe-A Conway Book.2012
- Smith, Harrison-Rick Jolly, British navy surgeon who treated both sides in Falklands war, dies at 71-The Washington Post-January 16, 2018
- Stonyhust Home- https://www.stonyhurst.ac.uk/
- Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly, naval surgeon during Falklands war-Obituary-The Telegraph-14 January 20
- Un héroe de Malvinas murió en un accidente en Cordoba-Clarín-Marzo 5, 2010-
- Un médico en pos de la reconciliación-La Nación, 9 de marzo de 1999.
