#24 days after discharges begin to St Lucie River

[jthurlow]

Ed's Aerial Report 24 days after discharges begin 500 cfs, SLR

~Ed’s Aerial Report 24 days after discharges begin at 500 cfs via ACOE from Lake Okeechobee to SLR/IRL. Documenting the Discharges.  My husband Ed Lippisch has asked me to get these photos on-line ASAP. They were taken of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon area around Sewall’s Point, yesterday, February 15, 2023 around 1:25pm. It was an incoming tide about two hours after low tide. I do not…

[k2kid]

A scene outside the the Dominion Orthopaedic Hospital, Christie Street, Toronto, Ontario. “A War Record” by Stanley Francis Turner. For more information about this painting see: https://goo.gl/sx7PNs

Walter Perry, of Highland Creek, Ontario, decided to join the Canadian Army. His previous military experience consisting of serving three-and-a-half years as a Bugler. He joined the 81st Battalion in Toronto, Ontario on September 18th, 1915. From this point in time he served and trained in Canada until he was shipped overseas on April 24, 1916 aboard the S.S. Olympic. Two months passed while he awaited an active duty assignment and he was granted one with the 18th Battalion on June 29, 1916. Private Perry then transferred to the Canadian Base Depot in France and finally joined his unit on July 14, 1916.

Private Perry served dutifully until he was wounded with a gunshot wound the face October 3, 1916. The exact circumstances of his wounding are not known but that bullet started a process that would affect him for the rest of his life.

Undated diagram of Private Perry’s wounds. The bullet entered the mouth and the resulting impact took out four teeth (marked by X) and shattered the lower left jaw, exiting the skin and leaving horrific wounds.

The bullet entered his mouth from the right side, taking out two teeth and then shattering his lower left jaw. The medical record records an “extensive fracture” with “large bone loss” during a medical assessment and surgery after his admission on October 10, 1916 to the Aldershot Cambridge Military Hospital. This hospital was the first institution to perform “plastic surgery” and developed its expertise during the First World War, particularly during the Somme Offensive in the summer and fall of 1916. The surgeons attempted an unsuccessful bone graft using one of Private Perry’s ribs and noted there was minute metal particles in the soft tissue, in the area of the wound.

Undated detail diagram of Private Perry’s wounds.

Private Perry is then transferred (September 11, 1917) to Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup where treatment is reported December 1, 1917 as having now been moved to the Canadian Section of this hospital. This institution specialized in plastic and restorative surgery and was under the direction of Harold Gillies. The hospital medical report gives more details as to Private Perry’s treatment at Aldershot. On April 3, 1917, a surgery was done creating a bone graft from one of Private Perry’s ribs and this was not successful. To address the fact the bone graft did not take, Private Perry had this graft removed May 18, 1917.

Operating Theater, Sidcup. Harold Gillies, seated.

Aldershot Cambridge Military Hospital

Interior of ward, at Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup.

No further treatment is noted on this record until February 27, 1918 where it is noted that there was to be another attempt at “plastic operation L side of face to correct deformity and provide connective tissue [to] feed [skin and bone] graft” but this was not done as Private Perry had contracted influenza which then complicated into pneumonia. It was advised that a wait of six-month be made before another attempt at the surgery be made. Surgeon Major Carl William Waldron appears to have done some exploratory surgery to determine the progress and condition of Private Perry’s wounds but did not proceed with a more extensive procedure due to the Private’s illness.

One day after the war ended it was recommended that Private Perry be invalided home. He was admitted to the 16th Canadian General Hospital, Orpington, [January] 4, 1919 and was invalided home for further treatment, first to Davisville Medical Hospital and finally arriving at the Dominion Orthopaedic Hospital, Facial Section, in Toronto, Ontario. Private Perry was finally home. He would be one of the 185 facial cases this hospital would treat.

Cover of a souvenier program for the Dominion Orthopaedic Hospital.

At the Dominion Orthopaedic Hospital Surgeon Major Reston[?] performed a bone graft April 20, 1919. No further reports on Private Perry’s condition are offered but he earned a two-month furlough beginning June 29, 1919. After returning from leave Private Perry was transferred to Ste. Anne-de-Bellevue Military Hospital and was attended to by Surgeon Major Carl William Waldron. This is of note at this surgeon had attended to him in England and was under the command of Harold Gillies. It may be that Major Waldron wanted to follow up as part of the development of facial reconstructive surgery.

A medical board was held on September 27, 1920 in preparation for discharge and it noted the following:

157659 Pte. Perry, W.

D.O.H. 27-9-20  Condition when finally boarded for discharge.

Wounded Oct. 2nd, 1916. Courcellette [sic]. To Dressing Station. No. 11 Scottish General, Rouen. Aldershot M.H to Sidcup, Queen’s. To 16th Can. Gen. To Canada. Davisville M.H. and D.O.H., Toronto. St. Anne de Bellevue the D.O.H. Toronto.

[Illegible] �� recent bone-graft , successful, still wearing interdental splints.

Facial disfigurement – considerable, of left cheek destroyed. Scars, etc., and depressions.

Pain in right chest on lifting weights (some rib was taken in an English Hospital for bone-graft which failed.

Subjective: Pain in right chest at time on lifting and inability to chew food.

Private Perry was discharged from service October 11, 1920. He had served 1,851 days in the C.E.F, of which 1,470 (79% of his service) days involved medical treatment and care. He planned to live on Warden Street, Mimico[i], Ontario. His discharge papers indicate that he is still married to Lucy Manning Perry

Private Walter Perry was now a civilian. The minority of his military service left him with permanent physical and mental scars. Perhaps he continued his pre-war trade as a printer but perhaps the missing rib made it too painful to perform the physical labour involved and he would have to adapt to his external wounds and the inability to chew food.

He lived until the age of 67, passing away at Sunnybrook Hospital for a coronary occlusion.

His wife, Lucy, was still with him.

Veterans Death Card for Private Walter Perry showing date, place of death and final resting place.

[i] Mimico was an independent municipality located to the west of the Humber, River. It is now part of Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario.

One-Thousand Four-Hundred and Seventy Days Walter Perry, of Highland Creek, Ontario, decided to join the Canadian Army. His previous military experience consisting of serving three-and-a-half years as a Bugler.

[jthurlow]

Ed's Aerial Update 61 Days After Discharges begin

I. Documenting the Discharges– 2023- St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon Date: Friday, March 24, 2023 Around 4:00 pm Pilot/photographer: Ed Lippisch Discharge Updates: eyeonlakeo.com  Location: St Lucie Inlet, Sailfish Flats, Atlantic Ocean Tide: Mid -Ball of fish in ocean -pretty cool!  S-308 at Port Mayaca eyeonlakeo.com showing “pulsing” 500 cfs average ACOE II. Documenting the Seagrass Date…

[jthurlow]

Ed's Aerial Report 33 days after discharges begin 500 cfs, SLR

Documenting the Discharges 2023 -St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon Eyeonlakeo.com resource guide to all things SLR ACOE decision to begin lake o discharges to SRL These aerial photographs were taken by my husband, Ed Lippisch, on Friday, February 24, 2023 around 1:51 pm during high tide. It was a beautiful day and many boats were fishing over the nearshore reefs. The 500 cubic feet per second…