Genealogy Chat

Hi can anyone give me their opinion on this one?
Here goes... Someone on my family tree was called up for national service in 1946 and he joined the coldstream guard. He was discharged 28/11/1946 and on a letter i have from ministry of pension it states he had heart disease. He would only have been 18 and a family member stated he was unhappy doing national service and to get discharged he took something which caused him to faint on parade ground. Is this posible or surely the medical people would have been clued up enought to be aware things like that went on? If it was a ploy to be discharged ironically enough he died age 66 of heart disease! any thoughts on this one folks???

My OH was called up for National Service and had to have a thorough medical before he accepted. he did disclose thought that he had Rheumatic Fever as a child so he had to see a heart specialist first.

If your relation did faint on parade then was unwell he would have have had to have very thorough medical checks before they discharged him with a diagnoses of heart disease

isnt 18 very young for heart disease though? I have contacted their archives and i was wondering if they would have results of medical tests??

You are probably right there, it just strange as he never mentioned it and he never seemed to have any checks from that date until he died. As i say he was 66 when he died of aschemic heart disease & left ventrical failure.
Does anyone out there know if army medical records from then would give any more info.

They didn't have scans of course. It's possible he had either a heart murmur indicating a congenital defect, or possibly had suffered from endocarditis. This is inflammation of the heart muscle which typically follows rheumatic fever and can cause a degree of heart failure.
Jan

Some people also have erratic heart beats and whilst this is normal for them, at stressful times it can cause fainting and other problems, maybe that is what your relative had. Also remember that medication for what we may consider as minor events was not even thought of at that time and without all the tests available now it would have been impossible to make the fine judgement that we can make today.

Bridget

Does anyone know if they kept many records for people who did national service, i know he was only in for a short time but wondered if i would gain more info if i looked at his medical details.

My OH was left with a week valve in his heart from the rheumatic fever and as a child was restricted in exercise and wasnt allowed to play sports. he was eventually passed A1 for National Service but only after extensive tests .
Until very recently he had to take antiboitics if he had any dental work done ,

In my national service recruit training in Victoria a lot of guys fainted on the parade ground, whither heat-stroke or on you feet for hours standing still or marching.