From Ebola boots to terror targets, Imperial War Museum explores modern military

Fighting Extremes: From Ebola To Isis opens at the Imperial War Museum today and runs until November 2016
Rashid Razaq19 November 2015

The wellington boots worn by the first Briton to catch Ebola are part of an exhibition showing how the armed forces tackle both terrorism and disease.

Fighting Extremes: From Ebola To Isis, which opens at the Imperial War Museum today, features clothing worn by healthcare worker Will Pooley.

The nurse caught Ebola while helping victims of the disease in Sierra Leone in September last year and was evacuated to the UK by the RAF.

Fighting Extremes Exhibition: From Ebola To Isis

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Mr Pooley, who was treated at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, returned to the west African country after recovering.

His boots are included alongside an interview with Corporal Anna Cross, an Army nurse who tells how she prepared for the worst after catching the virus.

The exhibits mark Operation Gritrock, which was launched in September last year and saw 900 British personnel travel to Sierra Leone to set up treatment centres and help with security.

Virus victims: Will Pooley and Anna Cross
Getty Images

The third Briton to catch Ebola last year, Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey, was discharged from the Royal Free in January. She was readmitted last month after suffering complications from the virus, which had lingered in her system, but has since recovered again.

The second strand of the Fighting Extremes exhibition focuses on Operation Shader, the British contribution to the battle against Islamic State, or Isis, which was launched in August last year.

It features an interview with a drone operator and shooting target depicting a suicide bomber, which was used by British forces to train Kurdish fighters.

Historian Matt Brosnan, who helped curate the show, said the two operations showed the similarities and contrasts between the roles of the armed forces.

He said: “We’ve been working with the Ministry of Defence to gather material to relate the experiences of combat troops. These were two prominent, very different operations. But there are parallels. The armed forces organised command and control, bringing military planning to the fight against Ebola.”

The exhibition runs until November next year.

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