The 16th (Parachute) Field Ambulance was a Royal Army Medical Corps unit of the British airborne forces during the Second World War.

The 16th (Parachute) Field Ambulance then returned to England to prepare for operations in North West Europe.

In 1945 it was reformed and took part in Operation Doomsday the occupation of Norway following the surrender of German forces there, but with the war over the unit was disbanded by the end of the year.

Impressed by the success of German airborne operations, during the Battle of France, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops.

[6] Therefore, the field ambulance had the ability to treat all types of wounds, and provide post-operative care for up to fourteen days.

[nb 1] They also had the transport required to evacuate casualties from the Regimental Aid Post (RAP), to the Main Dressing Station (MDS).

[8] Other medical staff were a sergeant sanitary assistant, a masseur, a dental orderly and five stretcher bearers, one of whom was trained as a shoemaker.

[8] The rest of the headquarters consisted of a Quartermaster, clerks, cooks, storemen, an Army Physical Training Corps instructor, a barber and a joiner from the Royal Engineers.

[12] It was normal to have at least two RASC drivers with two jeeps and a trailer attached to each section, the remaining men and vehicles stayed with the headquarters surgical teams.

[18] The invasion of North Africa Operation Torch was the first time an airborne field ambulance was employed.

Before this operations Colossus and Freshman had no specialist medical support, while Biting included a section from the 181st (Airlanding) Field Ambulance in the evacuation boats.

[19] For Torch No.3 Section, 16 PFA was attached to the 3rd Parachute Battalion and travelled by plane via Gibraltar to North Africa.

[20] En route to Bone the aircraft carrying Captain Keesey the No.3 Section commander crashed into the sea.

Leaving the section second in command to set up a dressing station to handle the fourteen casualties (including one killed) from the parachute landing.

[22] The town was attacked by a squadron of German Stukas on 20 November, and Lieutenant Charles Rob in command on the surgical team carried out over 150 operations during which he suffered a fractured tibia and kneecap caused by a bomb exploding nearby.

[26] From now onwards the 1st Parachute Brigade fought as normal infantry and 16 PFA on Christmas Eve set up a Main Dressing Station (MDS) at Medjez el Bab.

The terrain also hindered casualty evacuation and it took ten hours, to bring the wounded from the front line to the medical post, by which time the stretcher bearers could go no further.

In the situation Lieutenant-Colonel MacEwan, brought the remainder of 16 PFA forward to assist with the wounded, No.4 Section being sent to the top of Djebel Mansour.

Half the section falling in with a small group from the 3rd Battalion, were forced by enemy activity to hide out until they could rejoin the brigade late on 15 July.

[39] In the first thirteen hours the MDS carried out twenty-one operations and were looking after sixty-one British and twenty-nine Italian patients by 22:00 the following night.

[40] An Italian officer arrived and informed them that they had been captured, but later that day, 2nd Parachute Battalion advancing with the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division liberated the MDS.

[41] For the Allied invasion of Italy the 1st airborne Division were informed on 6 September, they would be carrying out an amphibious landing at the Italian port of Taranto three days later.

After landing 16 PFA were to clear the casualties on the brigade DZ, and then move into Arnhem to take over the St Elizabeth Hospital.

After treating the casualties on the DZ, 16 PFA moved through Oosterbeek into the western outskirts of Arnhem and took over the St Elizabeth Hospital.

[47] After discussing the situation with the Germans, it was agreed that the two surgical teams, nineteen men could remain, all the others including the commanding officer were taken away as prisoners of war.

Thanks to Lipmann-Kessel's work, Hackett eventually recovered and in February 1945 successfully evaded the Germans to reach friendly lines.

Only twenty men who reached the hospital had died, the majority arriving so badly injured that their wounds were inoperable.

The 16 PFA landed at Oslo on 10 May 1945, their role was the medical screening of the large numbers of Russian prisoners of war and assist in the evacuation of the German Army.