Sgt Dave Barrow was our laboratory technician and quietly and efficiently did what he could in very difficult circumstances. 

Primarily he managed our supply of blood. It all came “on the hoof” from the men around camp. Any excess was stored in a rusty domestic refrigerator for only a few hours at most. We used it as a crisis occurred. We never bled more than we needed. Twenty-five percent of donated blood from personnel on the camp was used in european casualties whilst the other 75% that camp personnel had donated was used to treat non-europeans including Omanis and adoo. The Army and RAF were most generous to donate – unless it was for officers and that is another amusing story. We did try to persuade locals to donate blood for those who we were treating in the Salalah hospital but without success.It was really rather disappointing and challenged the anaesthetist when it came to supporting patients during surgery.