Surviving members of the famous ‘Guinea Pig Club’ – RAF airmen who received pioneering reconstructive surgery by Archibald McIndoe following appalling burns injuries during world war II. The self-styled ‘Guinea Pigs’, a name adopted as a badge of honour by the hundreds of young allied airmen treated for severe burns by the pioneer plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe during the Second World War. From their shared experience emerged a camaraderie that developed into one of the first patient ‘support groups’.
 
McIndoe was a pioneer in burns treatment and has paved the way for the plastic surgery techniques of today. Plastic surgeons and their burns teams can now help people with severe burns to survive and have fulfilling lives.
 
Simon Chaplin, Director of the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, said: "These portraits remind us of the profound effect surgery can have on peoples' lives. It is impossible not to be moved by the courage and determination shown by the 'Guinea Pigs', and their success will provide inspiration to future generations of patients.”
 
The Guinea Pig Anthem
(Sung to the tune Aurelia by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1864)
 
We are McIndoe’s army,
We are his Guinea Pigs.
With dermatomes and pedicles,
Glass eyes, false teeth and wigs.
And when we get our discharge
We’ll shout with all our might:
“Per ardua ad astra”
We’d rather drink than fight
 
John Hunter runs the gas works,
Ross Tilley wields the knife.
And if they are not careful
They’ll have your flaming life.
So, Guinea Pigs, stand steady
For all your surgeon’s calls:
And if their hands aren’t steady
They’ll whip off both your ears
 
We’ve had some mad Australians,
Some French, some Czechs, some Poles.
We’ve even had some Yankees,
God bless their precious souls.
While as for the Canadians -
Ah! That’s a different thing.
They couldn’t stand our accent
And built a separate Wing
 
We are McIndoe’s army,
(As first verse)