by Rosie Hendry
‘I’ll stick the spotters’ guide to these rockets up on the noticeboard, shall I?’ Sparky said.
‘Good idea.’ She handed him back his newspaper. ‘Right, back to work, everybody, and if the siren goes . . . get to the shelter and make sure you’re wearing your steel helmets.’
Chapter 23
Bella had just bumped her bicycle down the steps to the basement of Connie’s house, with Winnie and Trixie following on close behind, when the door leading into the house was thrown open by Connie.
‘I’ve been looking out for you. Bella, you’ve had a phone call from your mother.’ Connie beamed at her. ‘It’s the most marvellous news – your brother’s come home! Walter’s alive and well and arrived back at her house late last night. She telephoned here an hour ago to let you know.’
Bella stared at her as the news slowly sank in.
‘That’s utterly marvellous!’ Winnie threw her arm around Bella’s shoulders and hugged her. ‘You must go and see him.’
Bella nodded, her eyes blurring with tears. Her brother was alive and had come home, she could hardly believe it. She’d tried her best to keep hopeful that he was still alive somewhere, but it was hard sometimes, especially as more and more months passed since they’d last heard from him. ‘Is he all right?’
‘Yes, apart from being very skinny, so your mother says. She has plans to fatten him up while he’s there,’ Connie said.
‘I must go to see him.’ Bella had just under twenty-four hours until she needed to be back on duty at Station 75, so there was time to get to Buckinghamshire and back again. She could even stay the night and return on the early train in the morning.
Connie took hold of Bella’s bicycle from her. ‘I’ll take this, you go inside and get yourself ready; you should be able to get there easily by midday, with a bit of luck and a train that doesn’t get delayed.’
‘Thank you.’ Bella hurried inside to quickly pack some overnight things into a bag and get some money. She decided to just have a quick wash and go still wearing her uniform rather than waste time changing into something else. She wanted to get there as soon as possible, she’d waited long enough to see her brother again and she wasn’t going to delay it for a moment longer than was necessary.
Walking up the driveway to Linden House later that morning, after a thankfully uninterrupted train journey out from Euston station to Little Claydon, Bella’s stomach was fluttering like a thousand moths around a lamp post. She was filled with a heady mixture of excitement and nerves at the prospect of seeing her brother again, it would be the first time in over three and a half years since he was posted abroad to North Africa. They’d sent letters, and latterly parcels, while he was in a POW camp in Italy, but they weren’t the same as seeing somebody, talking to them face to face and being able to read their expressions and the emotions in their eyes. Her mind was filled with so many questions, they’d whirled around her head as she’d sat in the train, playing out different scenarios of what could have happened to him since he’d been in the prison camp.
Going around to the back of the house, she was greeted by a delicious smell of freshly baked bread as she opened the kitchen door. Inside, she saw her mother turning a hot loaf out of its tin to cool next to others on the scrubbed pine table.
‘Hello,’ Bella said, hurrying over to kiss her mother and throwing her arms around her, squeezing her tight. ‘I came as soon as I got the news.’
‘We’ve been expecting you. Connie telephoned after you’d left to say you were on your way.’ Her mother stepped back and looked at her. ‘You look very smart in your uniform.’
Bella smiled. ‘I came straight here after I got home from work, didn’t want to waste time getting changed. So where is he then?’
‘Asleep. He arrived here very late last night and is exhausted.’
‘Where’s he been all this time?’ Bella asked. Her mother smiled at her. ‘It’s quite a story but I’ll let him tell you it. I’m just glad he’s home again.’
Bella was itching to know more but knew her mother wouldn’t budge, and it wasn’t fair to badger her, she’d just have to wait until Walter woke up. ‘Is it all right if I stay tonight and get the early train back to London in the morning?’
‘Of course it is. It’s a rare treat for me to have both my children here with me.’
It wasn’t until early afternoon, when Bella was chopping carrots to help her mother prepare the evening meal, that Walter finally appeared down in the kitchen. His dark brown hair was still tousled from sleep. Bella’s first reaction was shock at how thin he was, immediately followed by dropping her knife onto the table and rushing over and throwing her arms around him.
‘There you are, sleepyhead. I came all the way from London to see you and you were fast asleep!’ She loosened her grip and stepped back, looking up at him. ‘It’s good to see you.’
Walter beamed down at her. ‘And you.’
Bella laughed. ‘So where have you been all this time? What happened to you?’
‘Let the lad have something to eat first, then he can tell you what happened,’ their mother said, putting a plate of bread thickly spread with butter and jam on the table and motioning for Walter to sit. ‘I’ll fry you some eggs in a minute.’
‘Thanks.’ Walter sat down and began to tuck in, his eyes closing in appreciation of the taste of the food as he chewed. Wherever he’d been, thought Bella, as Walter finished his bread and jam and started on his eggs, food had obviously been in short supply.
‘Right, I’d better tell you where I’ve been before you burst.’ Walter grinned at her as he wiped up the last bits of egg yolk with a piece of bread and then popped it into his mouth.
‘Go on then, I’m all ears.’
‘Where do you think I’ve been?’ Walter teased.
Bella threw up her hands in exasperation. ‘I don’t know. The last time we heard from you, you were in the POW camp in Italy, but after the Italians capitulated, we heard nothing. So where did you go?’
Her brother sat back in his chair. ‘I’ve been in Italy ever since, on the run and helping the Italian partisans fight the Germans.’
Bella stared at him for a few moments and then looked across the kitchen to their mother who was frying onions at the kitchen range, all the while watching them and listening to what was being said. Her eyes met Bella’s and she nodded, clearly having already heard this but listening again.
‘How did that happen? You were supposed to be in the POW camp.’
‘I was, but when the Italians surrendered, the guards all cleared off and we were supposed to stay there because the Allies had landed in southern Italy and it was only a matter of time before they reached us. But me and some pals didn’t like the idea of hanging around with the Nazis still in the war, they could come in and we’d be there like sitting ducks.’ He paused for a moment. ‘So, we ran for it and hid up in the hills. We’d been used to going out on working parties from the camp, helping the locals in the fields, and so we’d got to know some of them – they were good people, and we picked up a bit of the language as well.’ He sighed. ‘It was just as well we did run off, because the Nazis soon arrived and shipped the men that had stayed in the camp off to God knows where.’ He shook his head. ‘We weren’t the only ones on the run, there were plenty of POWs on the loose. We moved at night and scrounged food out of the fields and many Italians helped us, some of them risking their lives when the Germans arrived. Anyway, we found an area with plenty of good hideaways, and stayed in a cave up in the hills. Eventually we met some Italian partisans and helped them make life difficult for the Nazis.’ He grinned.
Bella had spent a lot of time over the past year wondering where her brother was and what he was doing, though she’d never expected him to have been hiding out in caves and fighting with partisans. She was glad that he hadn’t stayed in the camp and been taken by the Germans. ‘What did you do?’
‘Blow up bridges, ambush patrols, anything that would hinder the Nazis and
get rid of them.’ Walter’s face was shadowed for a moment and then he smiled at her, but she noticed it didn’t quite reach his eyes. She could see that what he’d told her didn’t fully convey the seriousness of what he’d been doing and all the terrible danger he’d been in.
‘What would have happened if they’d caught you?’
‘They’d have shot me, like they did the crew of the American bomber who bailed out before their plane crashed – they hid in an old shed at the top of a mountain, but the Nazi SS found them and shot them.’
Bella’s eyes filled with tears. ‘They should have been taken as prisoners of war.’
Walter nodded. ‘I know, but tell that to the SS,’ he said bitterly. ‘But don’t worry, I reported the bastards when I went for Allied Screening before they repatriated me.’ He paused for a moment, looking far away. ‘It was a wonderful sight when we saw the British Army finally arrive where we were – I knew I could come home then.’
‘What’s going to happen next?’ Bella asked.
‘He’s going to rest and get plenty of decent food inside him,’ their mother said putting a cup of tea in front of each of them.
Walter laughed. ‘I’m still in the army, Mum, I’m going to have to report for duty when they tell me, though at least I’ll have a couple of weeks off before then.’
Bella frowned. ‘But where will they send you? Not into France, I hope? You’ve done enough, surely?’
‘My fate is in the army’s hands, but I wouldn’t say no to a nice Blighty posting.’ Walter took a sip of tea. ‘Enough talk of the army, tell me what you’ve been up to, sis, you look smart in your uniform, it suits you.’
Chapter 24
‘Top secret!’ Winnie stared at Station Officer Steele who’d summoned her, Bella, Frankie and Rose to her office shortly after they’d finished eating their evening meal. ‘And why us?’
The boss looked at them, her shrewd brown eyes twinkling behind her horn-rimmed glasses. ‘Because I think you’ll do a jolly good job – that’s why I’ve chosen you four to do this task. You’re a good team and I know that I can rely on you not to let Station 75 down.’
‘So, what is it you want us to do?’ Winnie asked impatiently.
‘You’re to join a convoy made up of ambulances from different stations which will travel out to an unnamed destination in the country. That’s all I am permitted to tell you,’ the boss said.
‘What will we be doing there?’ Frankie asked. ‘Do you know?’
‘Of course I do, but I have been ordered not to say any more – just that you are to meet at the rendezvous point here,’ she pointed to the large street map of London which was pinned on her office wall. ‘From there you will travel in convoy to the designated place out in the countryside. You’ll find out more when you get there. I really can’t tell you any more other than this is a very important job.’
Winnie glanced at her friends who all looked as curious as she felt, but it was clear that the boss wasn’t going to tell them any more than she already had. ‘What time do we need to leave?’
‘The rendezvous is for twenty-two hundred hours, so it would be wise to leave here by twenty-one hundred hours to make sure you don’t miss it. I’ve been told the convoy will not wait beyond the appointed time,’ Station Officer Steele said. ‘So that gives you a little over an hour to get yourselves ready. Make sure you wear some warm clothes as it’s cold out there tonight and do not, I repeat, do not, say anything to any other crew members about this job, understand?’ They all nodded. ‘Jolly good, I know you won’t let me down.’
Winnie was glad when it was finally time to leave. It had been hard not to breathe a word to each other about what they were going to do incase they were overheard. She’d felt like she might burst with all the questions whizzing around her head, though she’d thankfully managed to keep silent.
Climbing into the ambulance cab next to Rose, she was finally able to say what she wanted. ‘What do you think this is all about? I’ve been racking my brains trying to work out what it might be. Why would they send ambulances on a top-secret convoy? Presumably we must be going to get patients of some sort, but who are they and from where?’
Rose laughed as she settled Trixie on her lap. ‘I bet your imagination has been running wild since the boss told us she was sending us on a top-secret job.’
‘Of course it has.’ She put the ambulance into gear and followed behind Frankie and Bella as they drove under the archway and out onto the road. ‘I’ve come up with several different scenarios of what we might be going to – what do you think?’
‘Well it must be to collect patients otherwise what’s the point of sending ambulances, but who they are I don’t know, and why such secrecy? We’ll just have to wait and see.’
They arrived at the rendezvous point in good time and as they waited more and more ambulances arrived to join in the convoy. Bang on the dot of 22:00 hours they moved off, following a lead army car, and travelled southwards out through the suburbs of London. The houses around them were all in darkness due to the blackout and just the faint beams from the ambulance’s covered headlights lit the way.
‘Look!’ Rose grabbed Winnie’s arm, pointing up into the sky where they could see the flickering lights of two robot rockets flying fast through the darkness towards London.
The sight of them made Winnie shiver, knowing that as soon as that bright flame went out the rocket would dive and likely explode on some unsuspecting victims.
‘I hope wherever they come down people will have had a chance to get to a shelter,’ Winnie said.
They saw several more rockets flying northwards before the convoy reached its destination at midnight, which turned out to be Epsom Downs railway station.
‘Looks like we’re meeting a train,’ Winnie said to Rose as she parked the ambulance next to Frankie and Bella’s.
When all the ambulance crews had gathered on the station platform, their faces ghostly grey in the light of the waning moon, the army officer who had travelled in the car at the head of the convoy shouted, ‘Can I have your attention, please? You’re here to meet casualties from D-Day and will be taking them back to London hospitals for further treatment. You all need to stay on the platform until the train gets in – what time that will be I can’t say. The important thing is that we are here with the ambulances ready, now all we can do is wait.’ Without pause, he turned and walked off with the station master, leaving the ambulance crews muttering amongst themselves at the news.
D-Day casualties – the words spun around in Winnie’s head. Could Mac be among them? He’d gone over on D-Day, parachuting in with his unit, and she’d heard nothing since he’d landed in France, not a word. She had no idea if he was still alive, injured . . . or worse.
She touched the last letter she’d had from him, that she’d taken to carrying around everywhere with her, safe inside her tunic pocket. He’d written it to her before D-Day, explaining that it would be posted after he’d been mobilised. In it, he was full of optimism for what he was about to do, telling her how much he loved her and intended to come home to her. Carrying the letter made Winne feel like she had a small part of him with her, a connection, however fleeting and distant, and right now she was desperate for any contact with Mac that she could get.
‘Winnie?’ Bella touched her arm. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Mac could be one of them coming here tonight . . .’ She felt sick at the thought.
‘You don’t know that,’ Bella said softly.
‘I know!’ Winnie snapped and then sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Bella, I’m worried. He could be injured or dead and they just haven’t told me yet’
‘If by any small chance Mac is coming here, at least you’ll be here ready for him and can help him.’
Winnie nodded. ‘You’re right, I’m just being an utter misery. I’m not the only one who’s got a husband out there.’ She looked over to where Frankie was talking to Rose; she knew that Frankie would be concerned about Alastair, too
.
‘Well, whoever arrives on the train, they’ll be glad to be back home,’ Bella said. ‘We’ll need to be cheerful for them like when we met the ambulance train at Liverpool Street station.’
‘The boss went out to meet them,’ Winnie said. ‘She left me in charge at the station.’ She looked up at the night sky, where clouds were scudding across the moon, and shivered. ‘Let’s hope the train gets here soon, it’s so cold.’
She, like many of the other ambulance crews, was wearing her greatcoat, glad of its bulk on this cold night. It might be almost midsummer, but it felt more like winter, and with nowhere to shelter on the platform it was hard to keep warm. ‘Come on, I need to move around a bit to warm up.’ Winnie linked her arm in Bella’s and she was grateful to feel her body soon warming up as they briskly strode up and down the length of the platform.
When the train still hadn’t arrived by four a.m., Winnie wasn’t the only one who was tired, cold and hungry. Spirits were starting to flag and energy was sapping, the initial adrenaline of their secret mission having worn off. Crews sat huddled together along the platform trying to keep warm, some of them even managing to fall asleep. The unexpected arrival of some WVS ladies bearing trays of beef sandwiches and cups of tea was greeted with an appreciative cheer.
With a sandwich inside her and her fingers warmed from cradling her cup of tea, Winnie felt much better, and when the train finally came steaming into the platform a short while later, as the sky began to lighten with the approach of dawn, she was determined to find out if Mac was on the train.
As the army orderlies began to unload the casualties, placing the men on stretchers along the length of the platform, Winnie walked up and down, anxiously searching for Mac. With each unfamiliar face, she wasn’t sure if she was glad it wasn’t him or wished it was and that he was home and out of danger. But none of them were Mac, just other women’s husbands or mother’s sons who’d been injured; some so badly that they’d never be sent back to fight again.
