A 101-year-old WW2 bomber pilot & a Canadian doctor share connections to the Guinea Pig Club

Reginald "Crash" Harrison of Saskatchewan, Canada was a bomber pilot who completed 19 missions with the RCAF during the Second World War. He survived four crashes, none of which were his fault. After his first crash, Reg sustained a burn on his arm. In April 1944, at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, England, Reg Harrison received care from a Canadian surgeon, Dr. A. Ross Tilley, who tried grafting a flat piece of skin from Reg’s leg onto his arm, which didn’t work. Dr. Tilley then did an experimental “pinch graft,” taking almost 60 little pinches of skin off Reg’s thigh and putting those on his arm, which worked. The scars are still visible on 101-year-old Reg Harrison’s arm and leg.
This reconstructive surgery meant Reg became a member of “The Guinea Pig Club,” a group of British and Allied aircrew injured during the Second World War who underwent experimental reconstructive plastic surgery.
At the recent national convention of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, a CAHS audience member was astounded to hear Reg tell this story. Dr. Robert Galway then shared stories with Reg Harrison and Deana Driver (author of the book Crash Harrison) about his own connection to Dr. A. Ross Tilley and Dr. Tilley's 25th reunion trip back to the UK.

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Deana Driver is an award-winning author, editor, book publisher, and retired journalist. She was a freelance journalist for more than 30 years and, in 2008, founded DriverWorks Ink, which specializes in publishing inspiring nonfiction books about Prairie people and other genres of children's historical fiction, healing and wellness, and rural humour. Deana (pronounced dee-na) has written six nonfiction books and contributed pieces to a dozen other books.