plastic surgeon Archie McIndoe pushed back the boundaries of knowledge with his pioneering work on people maimed and disfigured during the Second World War.

He and his famous "Guinea Pig Club" at East Grinstead were the subject of a recent TV documentary, which introduced a whole new generation to his achievements.

But Alice Hill, of Sling Lane, Malvern, needed no TV show to tell her about it . . . she witnessed at first hand McIndoe's innovative technical and psychological methods.

In 1942, Alice, aged 29, was posted as a nursing auxiliary to East Grinstead Cottage Hospital, where she worked until 1950.

"The hospital was like no other and I was very privileged to work there and to nurse many of Mr McIndoe's patients," she says.

The surgeon wanted to return all his patients to a full and active life. Many were RAF flyers who had suffered horrific burns.

"Archie McIndoe was not only an extraordinary surgeon but also a psychologist and he took great care of his patients with regard to all aspects of their ills," said Mrs Hill.

For example, servicemen were allowed their own uniforms, rather than the "blues" that most wounded men had to wear and the nurses were chosen for their attractiveness as well as skill - to boost the men's morale.

Patients were also encouraged to attend operations similar to the ones they would undergo.

"Instead of putting them off, it gave them courage, because they knew what was going to happen and realised McIndoe was doing it every day with great success," said Mrs Hill.

It wasn't only servicemen. Civilians, some children, who were injured in air raids, were also patients. A bomb fell on the cinema in East Grinstead and local people were among the casualties.

One teenage girl, Daph, was terribly injured when a bomb fell near her during an air raid. She had covered a young boy with her body, shielding him from injury, but her own nose was blown off and her ear damaged.

Mr McIndoe rebuilt her face in a long series of operations and Mrs Hill stayed in touch with her for the rest of her life.

"Perhaps ten years ago she answered a knock on the door to find a police officer standing there," says Mrs Hill. "It was the boy that she had protected on that fateful day.

The officer had found her despite the fact she had moved several times and changed her name by marriage.

"He had come to say thank you for what she had done for him that day," she said.

To this day, Mrs Hill remembers the camaraderie and the privileges the patients received. Because some were from the USA and Canada, unobtainable treats such as oranges, bananas and ice-cream were shipped to them and shared with the staff.

"It really was one of the happiest times of my life," she said. "I'd always wanted to be a children's nurse, but my mother made me go into dressmaking. So to have the chance to go into nursing really made my life."