The first soldier to be 'medivaced' from Op Crown was John 'Nignoy' Little. Here in his own words is what happened. "Well I hope I can remember everything correctly the old grey matter is not what it used to be. I was an ACC junior NCO serving with a detachment of 5 Ghurka Dog Coy RMP, normally based in Ulu Pandaan near Gilman in Singers. I got rtu'd to Singapore to be posted to Crown. I was not feeling to good so I reported sick. The medics at Gilman thought I was skiving, trying to get out of going to Crown, so they just gave me a couple of tablets and pronouced me fit. I flew from Seletar or Tengah to Ubon with some others on an RAAF transport by way of Butterworth , didn't think much of the hairy tattooed crew (and that was just the females). On arrival at Ubon I was in a bit of a state with flu like symptons and fever. I was taken to the Australian Medical Centre where I stayed over night, I was there until late the following afternoon. They must have been getting worried as they got a US Doctor to check me out. He had me put on a plane to the Field Hospital in Korat where I was in intensive care for eight days, turns out I had caught Bilharsia. Bilharsia is a disease caused by drinking contaminated water, you get little wormlike creatures in your blood, they can damage the heart amongst other things. After just over a week I was transferred by New Zealand Airforce to Seletar and then on to BMH in Singers, where I spent 6 weeks. Johnny Crouch arrived a couple of days later. We were on the same VSIL ward in BMH until he got moved to the Burns Unit. One Thursday evening I was informed I would be flying to Thailand the next morning, and so began my first contact with the likes of Yacker, Bob Nolan, Paddy Fenan, Lenny Gibbs,and the people of Thailand who would have such a huge influence on my family life, even today the Police Chief of the province asks me about Soils Technician 'Hippo' Hall who taught the kids in the village to sing the 'Muffin Man' and Alan Myers who was responsible for starting the Boy Scout movement in North East Thailand. As far as I know Johnny Crouch should be alive and kicking, I was on the ward next to him for 4 weeks, I was in BMH for another 6 weeks on light duties in the Diet Kitchen before leaving, and Johnny was well on the mend when I left! John Little has more to tell us, I'll be posting his blog on the ACC page asp. Webmaster