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CAMPBELL Allan Gordon DSO VRD MS FRCS FRACS

1916-2011

Allan Gordon Campbell was born in Croydon SA, on the 4th May 1916. He was the eldest child of Gordon C Campbell, a city solicitor, and Iris, nee Fisher. He was a grandson of Dr Allan Campbell and Florence Ann Campbell, the sister of Sir Samuel Way, Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice, and a founder of the Adelaide Children’s Hospital. Campbell was educated at St Peter’s College and studied medicine at the Adelaide University, graduating in 1938. He was a sprinter, like his father, and they both held the junior and senior state sprint championships 30 years apart.

Campbell joined the RAN Reserve at the Birkenhead Naval Depot in April 1939.  He was mobilised and reported for duty as surgeon lieutenant on the 11th July 1940. He was single, and named his mother Iris as next of his kin. He rotated sea time with professional refresher time ashore in land-based HMAS Ships including Penguin, Cerberus and Torrens. He served afloat in HMAS Vendetta from July 1940 to October 1941. Campbell was awarded the DSO, on 4th June 1941, for his actions and service in the withdrawal of 5200 men from Greece. The Advertise in Adelaide, reported that: Surgeon-Lieut. Allan Gordon Campbell, of North Adelaide, was the first Australian naval doctor to win the DSO in this war.  The men mostly from the 5th New Zealand Brigade were evacuated on the night of 24th April, while the 4th New Zealand Brigade remained to block the narrow road, dubbed the ‘24 Hour Pass’, to Athens. Some 10, 200 Australian troops were evacuated from Nafplio and Megara, Greece, on 25th April 1941; 2,000 more men had to wait until 27th April. By 30th April 1941 the evacuation of approximately 50,000 soldiers was completed, but was heavily attacked by the German Luftwaffe, which sank at least 26 troop-laden ships. The Germans captured around 8,000 Commonwealth troops, also 2,000 Cypriot, Palestinian and Yugoslav troops in Kalamata, who had not been evacuated. Campbell’s next sea appointment was HMAS Napier, a N class destroyer from October 1941, operating in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean after Japan captured Singapore, until August 1942. It was at this time, on leave, in 1942, that he married Dr Ina Fox of Strathalbyn, at St Peter’s College chapel. She was his former registrar at the RAH.  Campbell was evacuated to 105 AMH with a pleural effusion, in August 1943.  He was promoted to surgeon lieutenant commander on 1st April 1945 while on the Shropshire, a County Class heavy cruiser, in Sydney for maintenance. The Shropshire was back in the operational area, in June 1945, supporting the landings at Brunei, then Balikpapan on 3rd July and then returned to the Philippines and was there when the Japanese surrendered. She sailed for Tokyo Bay and was present for the surrender ceremony. Shropshire remained in Japanese waters until 17th November 1945 when she departed for Sydney. Campbell remained in the RANR after his demobilisation in December 1945.  He was promoted surgeon commander on the 31st December 1954. He appears in the Navy List 1967 as surgeon captain, with seniority of 1963.

After the war, Campbell worked as a general practitioner at Hindmarsh, SA, and then commenced surgical training at the RAH.  He became a Fellow of the RACS, in 1949, and obtained his Master of Surgery, in 1950, and finally a Fellow of the RCS in 1952. This followed the progression from honorary assistant surgeon to senior visiting surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He was prominent in establishing surgical subspecialties (particularly trauma) and mentoring younger surgeons. When the Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) opened, in 1976, he was appointed a senior visiting surgeon. Campbell was a keen golfer and enjoyed gardening, especially rose gardening, at his Fisher St, Myrtle Bank home. His expertise was sought in establishing rose gardens at the Ashford Hospital, St Chad’s Church and Pineview Retirement Village. His involvement with the Local and National Rose Society made him a delegate to the World Federation of Rose Societies and recipient of their highest award in 1981. His wife Ina, died in 1998. Allan Gordon Campbell died at home on the 29th June 2011, survived by his daughters and two grandchildren.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD