Dillwyn Malcolm Ewart Thomas was born at Nantymoel, South Wales, in 1907 and was educated at Monmouth School where he played in the rugby football team and gained his first XV colours. He then entered St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School which he also represented at rugby and qualified in 1933.

John Maxwell Sanderson was born on 9 September 1918 in Birmingham. His father, Mark Albert, was a lamp manufacturer and his mother was Helen Kate Church, a farmer's daughter. He attended York House Preparatory School in Birmingham, followed by King Edward's High School. From there he went to Birming

Frederick John Sambrook Gowar was a consultant thoracic surgeon in the Grampian region. He was born in Southgate, London, on 25 January 1910. His father, Frederick William Gowar, was a schoolmaster, and his mother (whose maiden name was Johns) was the daughter of a naval officer. He won an entrance

Edmond Lecutier was born in Leeds of French parents, and studied medicine at Leeds University, where he completed junior posts before joining the RAMC. He served with the 5th Indian Division in South East Asia Command, where he formed a lifelong admiration for the Gurkhas. After the war, he retur

Born in Sydney in 1913 of Latvian descent, he distinguished himself as an athlete, playing Rugby football for Australia and swimming in the Sydney Life-savers Club. Qualifying in 1940 he served for five years in the Royal Australian Naval Medical Service, working for a time in the North Sea convoys

Born at Sunderland, Co Durham on 24 December 1900, the son of Laurence O'Shaughnessy, inspector of customs and excise, and Mary Westgate, his wife, who died on 21 March 1941. He was educated at South Shields High School for Boys and left at the age of sixteen to go to Durham College of Medicine, his

Bryan Moore studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, where he became casualty surgical officer and house surgeon. He was a surgical specialist in the RAMC from 1944 to 1947, then a surgical registrar at UCH. He was subsequently appointed a consultant thoracic surgeon to the South East Metropolitan

Kenneth Mullard was born on 27 December 1912 in Enfield, Middlesex, where his father Stanley R Mullard MBE was founder and chairman of the Mullard Radio Valve Company. His mother was Emmie née Hole. He was educated at Lancing and Clare College, Cambridge, and went on to St Thomas's to do his clinica

Peter Henry Jones was born in Monmouth on 1 March 1917 and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's West Monmouth School in Pontypool. He studied medicine at the Westminster Hospital and qualified in 1939. After house appointments at the Westminster Hospital he served in the RAMC from 1942 to 1946 as Reg

Mary Shepherd was a former consultant thoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex. She was born at Forest Hill, London, on 4 July 1933, the youngest of the two children of George Raymond Shepherd, an electrical and mechanical engineer, and Florence May Savile, whose father and grandfather had

Lawrence Whytehead was a thoracic surgeon in Manitoba, Canada. He was born in Easty, Kent, on 7 February 1914 and educated at St Edmund’s and Charterhouse. He went on to study medicine at Oriel College, Oxford, and then Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1938. During the Second World War he served in

James Joseph MacHale was a consultant thoracic surgeon in Birmingham. He was born in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, on 25 August 1915, the son of Joseph Patrick MacHale, an insurance manager, and Grace MacHale née Moran, a housewife. He was educated at Blackrock College and then went on to Universi