(Contributed by his wife G Moore)
Sam Moore qualified at the London Hospital in 1948, volunteering for National Service in 1950, when he served as Regimental Medical Officer to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in Belize. When a severe hurricane hit Jamaica he went at once to the most devastated areas, giving medical aid and helping to rescue trapped survivors. For this he was awarded the MBE.
In 1956, after a spell at Millbank Hospital, he was posted to West Africa and appointed Senior Specialist to BMH Kaduna and Honorary Consultant to the European and African Hospitals. He spent much of his off duty time working in the local hospitals, learning to speak Hausa and loved the work there.
In 1960 he was posted to Kenya as Consultant to BMH Nairobi and Honorary Consultant to the Kenyatta National Hospital. Again, he spent many hours working in the local hospital and here he wrote several papers on schistosomiasis, tick fever and malaria.
He then served in BMH Iselohn, BMH Singapore and BMH Colchester. At the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, he conducted valuable heart research on an army team preparing to climb Mount Everest and was awarded the Mitchiner Medal for improving training programmes in the RAMC. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem.
In 1976 he was promoted to Brigadier and appointed Director Army Medical Services BAOR where he was part of an international team of doctors looking after Hess (Hitler’s Deputy), in Spandau Prison, Berlin.
In 1981, with the rank of Major General, he was appointed Director Army Medicine, Consultant Physician to the Army and Honorary Consultant Physician to the Queen.
He retired in 1984 to become Physician and Surgeon to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where he was able to return to his first love of a ‘hands on’ doctor.
In 1990, he retired to continue his lifelong passionate hobbies of bird watching and collecting bird stamps. After multiple strokes, he died on 25 August 2012, a truly beloved physician.