During the Suez Crisis in September 1956 some Persian Gulf states said they would massacre all British citizens in the Gulf if we invaded Suez. As a result a detachment of the Gloucester regiment was sent to Bahrain, but they had no medical cover. I was sent to supply this.
Once there one day after lunch I was driven in a Land Rover from the Officer's mess back to the camp. Well on the way on the desert road an approaching vehicle kept driving at us - a favourite provocation of the Arabs. My driver didn't give way until the last minute and when swerving, failed to see a large boulder. The near side wheel hit this and burst the tyre, sending the Land Rover out of control. We crashed into a depression in the desert and I went through the windscreen.
The first I knew about it was that I was kneeling on the desert with blood streaming off me. The driver ran off back to the unit to get first aid material - leaving me unable to stop the bleeding. I began to think I was not going to survive when a miraculous saviour arrived. A young woman working for the Foreign Office came by and saw me and got me into her car back to safety and care. I must have made a terrible mess of her car.
Unfortunately I never saw her again or knew her name so that I was unable to thank her for what she did for me. The date of this accident was 24th September 1956. If anyone reading this can put me in touch with this wonderful lady who saved my life I would be profoundly grateful, so that 58 years later I can at last express my profound gratitude.
Incidentally, after ten days in Bahrain General Hospital having had great care, I was flown back to Cyprus with a view to being evacuated back to the UK for plastic surgery to my face.