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Help needed to tell WWI hero's pioneering plastic surgery story
A sculptor is trying to track down the family of a man who received pioneering plastic surgery during the First World War. Paddy Hartley set up Project Facade after hearing the stories of injured servicemen and how they coped with plastic surgery.
For the past five years he has worked as the resident artist at the Gillies Archives, Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup, which tells the stories of men treated by revolutionary plastic surgeon Sir Harold Gillies.
Mr Hartley creates artworks of the people treated by Sir Harold following the war.
He said: “By far the most successful of the uniform sculptures are the pieces which incorporate the memories and stories of family and friends of the serviceman and how they dealt with the circumstances of undergoing facial surgery.”
He is appealing for information about his latest project, the surgery carried out on Frederick Charles Stacey, who lived in Addiscombe Road in Croydon.
Stacey distinguished himself in 1918 in France by beating off German attacks on the Welsh Ridge.
His exploits were written about in the London Gazette later on that year where he was praised for his gallantry and courage.
By late March 1918, German offensives pushed Stacey’s Battalion back over the River Ancre and on April 8, 1918, he suffered a gunshot to the face and was admitted to the plastic surgery unit at Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup. His war was over.
He was one of 5,000 servicemen treated by facial surgeon Sir Harold.
With his surgical team, Gillies reconstructed noses which had been shot off, jaws which had been ripped away by hot shrapnel, closed the wounds around missing eyes and operated on skin grafts for the seriously burned.
Mr Hartley said: “It’s generally accepted that facial plastic surgery advanced 50 years in the space of less than 10 years during and after the war due to the sheer number of casualties referred to Gillies.”
Stacey’s surgery was a great success and when he was discharged he relocated with his wife Elsie to 160 Addiscombe Road, Croydon.
Paddy is appealing for information about the war hero so that he can complete his work.
Stacey was born on April 22, 1887 in Islington but lived with his family at 60 Townshend Terrace in Richmond.
His sculpture will be going on display in the exhibition ‘Readdressing Identities’ at the Katonah Museum of Art in New York, June 2009.
The Project Facade exhibition Faces of Battle is open until August 24 at the National Army Museum.
Paddy can be contacted directly by email at projectfacade@mac.com
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