Notebook inscribed ‘Lieut. T. J. Fairbank’ containing 60 pages of manuscript journal entries for the period 21 September to 4 December 1939.
TJF enlisted for service in the Royal Army Medical Corps in September 1939 and was initially assigned to the 10th General Hospital before being transferred to the 12th Field Ambulance Unit in November 1939. The journal begins with TJF joining the 10th General Hospital at Clairmont Girls School in Edinburgh and arrival in Cherbourg to set up the hospital in Arques-la-Bataille. TJF describes the establishment of the hospital in a school and the work undertaken by him in the hospital and later as part of the Field Ambulance Unit then based at [Beuvry]. He also describes his billets, provides details and opinions of colleagues and senior officers, and activities during periods of rest. At the beginning of the diary is a map drawn by TJF showing the location of Arques-la-Bataille and the surrounding area.