New arrivals: dressing ulcers, Chungkai

Place Asia: Burma Thailand Railway, Chungkai
Accession Number ART90839
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: sheet: 24.6 x 37.6cm; paper: 33 x 40.8cm; paper: 33.8 x 42cm; card: 34.2 x 44.4cm
Object type Work on paper
Physical description watercolour heightened with white with pen, brush and ink, mounted on two sheets of paper on card
Maker Chalker, Jack
Place made Thailand
Date made 1943-1945
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright

Description

Soldiers dressing ulcers in the prisoner of war camp, Chungkai, Burma-Thailand Railway. Even small cuts and scratches could turn into gaping and stinking tropical ulcers, caused by bacteria in the soil. Operating confronted doctors with a terrible choice, a bad ulcer could kill a man, but operating on weak men with inadequate or inappropriate drugs resulted in an appalling high death rate.