SIXTY-five years ago in wartime Gloucestershire a collection of Nissan huts in a local park became the unlikely site of ground-breaking heart surgery.

During World War II the grounds of Stowell Park in Northleach became home to the 160th US General Hospital. And in the steady hands of American surgeon Major Dwight Harken the hospital was at the forefront of pioneering heart surgery.

Dr Harken, who was born in Iowa, came to work at Stowell Park during the second world war where he pioneered a technique removing shrapnel and bullets from the beating hearts of 133 wounded soldiers.

Amazingly, all the patients survived. In doing so Dr Harken became the world’s first surgeon to have repeated success in open heart operations and shattered the medical myth that the heart could not be operated on.

He benefited from having fit young men to operate on, but often the wounds were badly infected and antibiotics as we know them today were not available.

David Bowen-Jones was a 12 year-old boy in 1944 and the son of a local doctor. He told the Standard: "My father was a local doctor in Northleach, Dr Edward Bowen-Jones, and he went up to watch the operations. He would come back totally amazed at what was going on."

David remembers the US surgeon well, as his family used to entertain the doctors from the hospital at home.

"I remember as a child my brother and I held him in some awe. They hadn’t dome any real heart surgery since the 1890’s until Dwight started surgery on beating hearts. He was doing it in difficult conditions, in Nissan huts, but all of his patients survived," explained David.

He continued: "One must remember that all this was done by a young man from Iowa aged only 34 at the time. And this took place in Northleach and not a mile from my home. Amazing."

On his return to the US, Dr Harken spent the majority of his career as chief of thoracic surgery at Harvard Medical School’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. He continued as a trailblazer, providing innovations in cardiac medicine and intensive care, before his death at the age of 83.

Dr Harken kept illustrious company at the 160th hospital. Fellow surgeon Major Paul Zoll was also based at Stowell Park. Dr Zoll went on to make significant contributions in, amongst other areas, the application of the cardiac pacemaker.

The 160th US General Hospital at Stowell Park was just one of 15 army hospitals located in the area. All were administered from what is now Stratton House Hotel, in Cirencester.

Other hospitals included the 188th and 192nd US General Hospitals in Cirencester Park, the 111th on the Gloucester Road north of Stratton and the 186th at Fairford.