ALBERT COATES (SURGEON)

'Sir Albert Coates' (1895-1977) was an Australian surgeon and soldier. He served as a medical orderly in World War I, and as a senior surgeon for the Australian Army Medical Corps in World War II. He was captured by the Japanese and during his time as a POW, worked as a surgeon for the many Allied POWs working to build a Burma-Thailand Railway.
In between the wars, Coates studied surgery and helped to establish the Neurosurgical Society of Australia. He returned to surgical work following World War Two and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS). He was knighted in 1955.