Blighty Wounds
Updated - Sunday, 17 November, 2002

So-called 'Blighty wounds' were generally considered desirable among British and Commonwealth troops who had found themselves serving in the front lines for any extended period of time.

'Blighty' was a reference to Britain and derived from the Hindi 'bilati meaning 'foreign'.  A Blighty wound was one deemed sufficiently serious - but not potentially fatal - to necessitate either temporary or permanent recuperation in Britain.

Wounds to the hand and feet, for example, were usually regarded as typical Blighty wounds - and as such were treated with some suspicion by military authorities who suspected deliberate self-inflicted wounds (SIW - a capital offence).

Such self-directed wounds undoubtedly occurred although it is difficult to quantify the numbers involved given that many (if not most) such wounds were regarded as valid and passed unremarked.

A common method was to shoot one's foot through a sandbag in order that the powder would not show.  A little under 4,000 self-inflicted wounds were nevertheless officially recorded by the British Army during wartime.

As often as not infantrymen wished for 'a Blighty one' as much out of a feeling of homesickness as out of a desire to leave the dangers of the front lines.  For many Commonwealth troops such a wound provided their first opportunity to gain an extended view of life in Britain.

A howitzer is any short cannon that delivers its shells in a high trajectory. The word is derived from an old German word for "catapult".

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