Williams , Bernard Lewis , b 1910 , surgeon

Bernard Williams was a surgeon and a Lieutenant-Colonel in the RAMC; he was called up from the Reserve at the outbreak of the Second World War. After the fall of France in 1940, he served in Egypt with No 8 General Hospital as a junior surgical specialist, and subsequently with the 2/5 Casualty Clearing Station [CCS] at Mersa Matruh. The highly mobile desert war led to the establishment of Field Surgical Units, to be attached to Casualty Clearing Stations or Field Ambulances to carry out surgical operations before the patients' transfer to hospitals far behind the lines. Williams was in command of No 6 FSU, with the rank of Major, from August 1942 until January 1943, dealing with casualties from the battles of Alam Halfa and El Alamein. A copy of his reminiscences of RAMC service, published in St Thomas's Hospital Gazette, Vol 87-88, 1989-1991, is in file GC/172/9.

Williams was also Emeritus Consultant Surgeon for the Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Health District.