| dc.description.abstract | The birth of the Guinea Pig Club took place in Ward III at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, in 1941. It was created as a drinking club by injured soldiers, as a way to pass the time between operations, but it turned out to fulfil much more than its original and initial purpose. The Club was created by pilots from the Royal Air Force who suffered from burns after clashes between their aircrafts and the Luftwaffe’s aircrafts during the Battle of Britain, and they all underwent reconstructive surgery from the famous plastic surgeon Archibald Hector McIndoe. Since their surgical procedures were considered to be experimental, the soldiers ended up calling themselves McIndoe’s Guinea Pigs, which gave the Club its name. The Guinea Pig Club was kept alive after 1945, despite the intended plan of terminating it after the war, and the Club became an important asset for its members, in terms of financial and social support. The staff at Queen Victoria Hospital saw the Club as an essential element in the Guinea Pigs’ rehabilitation process, and the Guinea Pig Club managed to stay in touch with its members after the Second World War through their club magazine and their annual gatherings. This thesis explores the rehabilitation process of the pilots who fought during the Battle of Britain, and reveals how McIndoe’s treatment regime contributed to the ‘Guinea Pigs’ avoid-ance and repression of traumatic memories during and after the Second World War through the following thesis question: How did the early members of the Guinea Pig Club work to-wards their rehabilitation, and who contributed to their rehabilitation? This will be discussed by looking at the Club itself, at McIndoe’s treatment regime, and by analysing different ap-proaches to rehabilitation. Through different coping mechanisms, the early members of the Guinea Pig Club had to overcome stigmatising stereotypes on their way towards rehabilita-tion. What kind of approaches to rehabilitation can we see here, and how did the pilots man-age to accept themselves after their injuries? There are elements and methods in the ‘Guinea Pigs’ treatment that, in fact, have been given too much credit in terms of how it contributed to their mental rehabilitation. By understanding the pilots’ rehabilitation process, related to the Club’s support and their own effort to become fully rehabilitated, we are able to see how much support from a drinking club and comrades mattered to someone who suffered from severe physical and mental trauma. | eng |