Why is it that I seem to be reading an awful lot about suicide lately ?? maybe I'm just becoming more "aware" but in the past week I've been involved with brave soldiers in WW1 and now a brave airman in WW2 ! Many who had been wounded became depressed and distressed - especially when their battalions suffered severely and they were "just wounded " ....... many wished they had been killed also ..... many thought less of their own wounds than they did of the loss of their men Flight Lieutenant John Agorastas PLAGIS DSO DFC+Bar, from Rhodesia, fighter pilot served with 249 Squadron in the Summer of 1942 at Ta Kali and 185 Squadrons John Plagis
I found some pictures of him also ! John Plagis RIP Flight Lieutenant John Agorastas PLAGIS DSO DFC+Bar
Has there ever been a book written about this man? Certainly an astounding career forged during the very, very heavy raids on Malta in April/May/June '42. What amazes me about the guys who flew tours on Malta is just how frenetic it was. Landing with '109s in the circuit with you, flying several times a day etc. One thing I noticed was that pilots would arrive on the island with, say, 100 hours flying in their log book...and leave (perhaps six months later) with 150 hours. However, those 50 hours were totally full on and hard flying. I'll have to check one of my books to give a more reliable example.
It seems that he had a breakdown during the war from which he recovered. Possibly he had a tendency to fragile mental health; after all the other members of his squadron were under the same pressure and did not break down. But having a breakdown does not indicate any kind of character defect; the fact is that he got himself well and returned to combat. One can imagine that if he became depressed again after the war, he would have been reluctant to seek help, due to the stigma of mental illness, until far too late.
He was repatriated from Malta, suffering from scabies and malnutrition, so maybe there were other factors too. And one wonders what services would have been available to him in postwar Rhodesia
The malnutrition would certainly have been from the severe rationing and ops...and he was there during a particularly difficult time.
