Victory for the East End Angels

by Rosie Hendry

  ‘Come on, Winnie, we need to get our casualties.’ Rose hurried over to her, nodding to where other ambulance crews were busy collecting the men on stretchers and carrying them off to their waiting ambulances.

  ‘I just needed to check, that’s all, but he’s not here.’

  As they loaded the fourth man into the back of their ambulance a short while later, Winnie realised that she suddenly had a golden opportunity to find out what was going on out there, and perhaps even get word of Mac – only she needed help to do it.

  ‘Rose, can you check the straps are secure on the stretchers? I just need to speak to Bella and Frankie quickly before we leave.’

  ‘Yes of course,’ Rose said.

  Winnie jumped out of the back of their ambulance and hurried to where her friends were about to close the back doors of their ambulance, ready to leave.

  ‘Wait! Would one of you please swap places with me? I want to ride in the back so I can talk to the men, and Rose can’t drive our ambulance.’

  ‘Why do you want to do that?’ Bella asked, leaning out of the back of her ambulance.

  ‘I might be able to find out something about Mac, he might have treated one of them. I might not get another chance like this.’

  ‘It’s fine with me if you want to swap,’ Frankie said to Bella. ‘But we ought to get going, these men need to get to hospital.’

  ‘All right then,’ Bella agreed. ‘I’ll drive for you, if Rose will come and be the attendant in our ambulance.’

  Winnie beamed at them. ‘Thank you, you are both the best of friends.’

  It felt odd to Winnie being shut in the back of the ambulance, unable to see out but feeling the floor of the ambulance jolt beneath her as they started to move.

  ‘Are you all warm enough?’ Winnie asked. Each man had some hot-water bottles tucked in under his blankets, but it had been hours since they’d been topped up with hot water due to the long wait for the train.

  ‘Being back in Blighty warms my heart,’ the soldier on one of the top stretchers said. ‘After where we’ve been, that’s the best medicine, believe you me.’

  ‘Too bleeding right!’ one of the other soldiers added.

  ‘Was it bad out there?’ Winnie asked. ‘We hear about it on the wireless and read reports in the newspapers, but I suspect they don’t tell us everything.’

  ‘I bet they don’t. Let’s just say the Jerries didn’t give in easily,’ the soldier on the top bunk said. ‘Getting up the beach was bleeding hard.’

  One of the other soldiers scoffed. ‘That’s one way to put it.’ He looked at Winnie. ‘Best you don’t know, love. All that matters is we’re home now and hope those poor blighters left out there survive.’

  Winnie felt sick and she must have looked it because the soldier suddenly looked worried. ‘Didn’t mean to upset you, love. Our men will sort Hitler out all right, don’t you worry.’

  ‘I’m not upset,’ she said. ‘I’m worried about my husband, he’s out there. He’s in the Field Ambulance Parachute, went in on D-Day. Did any of you see him, did he treat any of you? His name’s Mac. I haven’t heard anything from him.’

  ‘Sorry, love,’ the soldier said. ‘To be honest I didn’t take much notice of the medic who helped me, I was in a lot of pain. Whoever it was did a good job and saved my leg. Any of you others meet a medic called Mac?’

  All the other soldiers shook their heads. ‘You don’t think of asking someone’s name at the time.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad you got help, whoever it was.’

  ‘Just because you ain’t heard from him yet, it don’t mean that he’s been hurt or anything. Writing letters home ain’t easy when there’s so much happening. He’ll write as soon as he can, I’m sure.’

  Winnie nodded. She had to be content with that for now because there was nothing else she could do but wait and hope.

  Chapter 25

  ‘Look!’ Frankie leaned forwards in the passenger seat of their ambulance and pointed up into the sky, as Bella negotiated their way across Ludgate Circus and into Fleet Street.

  Bella glanced up through the windscreen and could see the tell-tale sign of a doodlebug’s strike – a pall of smoke – which still hung in the air having hardly dispersed in the still summer afternoon. They’d unfortunately become all too familiar with these new V1 vengeance rocket weapons of Hitler’s. Their nickname of ‘doodlebug’ belied its vicious capabilities, and since they’d started raining down on London, they had rapidly increased the number of incidents Station 75 now had to deal with. All they knew about this afternoon’s one, was that it had struck in Aldwych, and must have caused a huge number of casualties as they’d been called in to help in an area that wasn’t part of their usual patch.

  ‘The smoke is marking the spot, all right.’ Bella checked in her wing mirror to see that Winnie and Rose were still following close behind. ‘I dread to think what we’ll find. Aldwych is such a busy area.’

  Her fears proved true as, when they arrived a few minutes later, the devastation was plain to see. The doodlebug had exploded in the middle of Aldwych’s semi-circular street between Kingsway, the BBC’s Bush House and the Air Ministry, gouging a deep hole in the road, and the blast had scythed down the street destroying everything in its path.

  Parking as close as was safe, they each grabbed a stretcher out of the back of the ambulance and made their way towards the injured. Bella had seen a lot of bomb damage in her time working in the Ambulance Service, but the scene before her was one of the worst yet. Bright red double-decker buses, such a common sight around London, had been ripped apart, one of them with its roof peeled back as if it had been cut open by a giant tin opener. Others had their bodywork ripped to pieces along with their passengers. Trees that should have been flush with green leaves were now stripped bare and hung with pieces of human flesh. The ground crunched underfoot, littered with broken glass blown out from the hundreds of windows overlooking the area that now gaped darkly, like empty eye sockets.

  Civil defence workers already on the scene had started the grim task of sorting the living from the dead and there was a sea of stretchers already lined up, holding blast victims on them who would never move again.

  ‘Over here.’ A policeman beckoned to them from where two injured women lay on the ground.

  Glad of something to focus on, Bella hurried over with Frankie.

  ‘Hello, I’m Bella, what’s your name?’ she asked, kneeling down by the young woman whose clothes were in shreds and whose exposed skin was peppered with the type of small grazes caused by flying glass.

  ‘Alice.’ Her voice was husky from the dust. ‘I was waiting at the post office.’

  ‘Can you tell me if you hurt anywhere?’

  ‘My head, my side.’

  ‘All right, I’m just going to check your legs and arms for any breaks and then we’ll get you on a stretcher and off to hospital.’ She quickly checked for breaks, aware that Frankie was busy doing the same thing with the other woman who lay nearby. Luckily for this woman, she didn’t appear to have any bones broken, but her injuries might be internal.

  Frankie helped her lift Alice on to the stretcher then Bella covered her with a blanket, quickly filling in her information on a label and attaching it to a button on what remained of the young woman’s jacket. Bella was just waiting for Frankie to be ready to help her carry Alice to the ambulance when a man’s voice made her look round.

  ‘I help you?’ The voice belonged to a tall man, dressed in RAF uniform, with striking cornflower-blue eyes and who, she noticed had ‘Poland’ embroidered on a shoulder flash at the top of his sleeve – that explained his accent. ‘I help you lift, will be quicker.’

  Bella glanced at Frankie who was busy splinting her own casualty’s legs together and wouldn’t be ready for a few minutes yet. She nodded and smiled at him. ‘Thank you, yes, I’d appreciate your help. There are so many casualties here . . . we need to get them to hospital as quickly as we can.’

  The man cl
icked his heels together and gave a little bow before he went to the far end of the stretcher ready to lift. Between them, they transferred Alice to the ambulance and returned to where Frankie was now ready to take her own casualty. The Polish airman then helped Frankie, leaving Bella free to attend to an unconscious man who had a nasty-looking wound on his head, blood running down his face and soaking his white shirt.

  ‘That was a big help, pity we don’t have someone to do that all the time,’ Frankie said when she returned with another stretcher. ‘He’s gone off ’elping carry more casualties. See?’

  Bella glanced up from where she was preparing a dressing for the man’s head wound and saw that the Polish airman was assisting another ambulance crew to transfer a patient to their ambulance. ‘He’ll be kept busy here, that’s for sure.’

  She was surprised but glad when he returned to help her with her patient.

  ‘You’re being a huge support, you know,’ Bella said to his back as they carried the man between them. ‘Not having to wait for my crew mate to give me a lift really saves time and I couldn’t help noticing what you’re doing helping other crews.’

  ‘I’m glad to help,’ he called back over his shoulder. ‘This is very bad, so many hurt and killed.’

  ‘One of the worst doodlebug attacks I’ve seen so far.’

  After they’d loaded the stretcher into the back of the Station 75 ambulance, he went back to help Frankie with her patient while Bella did the final preparations for hers, who still remained unconscious, tucking a hot-water bottle in under the blanket to keep him warm.

  With four casualties in the back, and Frankie staying in there to watch over them on the drive to St Bart’s, the nearest hospital, Bella closed the back doors and turned to the Polish airman, smiling. ‘Thank you for your help, we both really appreciate it. These casualties will get to hospital all the quicker because of you.’

  The officer smiled at her. ‘I hope they can be made better again.’ He clicked his heels and gave a little bow. ‘Drive safely.’

  ‘I always do,’ Bella said over her shoulder as she hurried round to the driver’s door. ‘Thanks again.’

  As she drove away, she thought about the new airman. The fact that he was a Polish officer explained the unusual manners, the bowing and clicking of heels which she rather liked. Whoever he was, his help was making a difference today; getting casualties to hospital that bit faster could make the difference between life and death.

  After delivering the first four casualties to St Bart’s they returned to Aldwych for more and she saw that the Polish airman was still there and had been commandeered into helping carry stretchers into the army lorries which were also being used to take survivors to hospital. He didn’t have a chance to come over to help them again, but he did nod his head and smile at Bella as he passed nearby, carrying a stretcher and despite herself, her cheeks grew warm.

  Chapter 26

  Frankie stirred a spoonful of precious sugar into her tea – she needed it after the shift they’d just done. Taking it outside to the garden, she sat down on the back step in the June sunshine but, despite its warmth and the heat of the cup cradled in her hands, she still felt chilled to the bone. She’d been to so many incidents since she’d joined the Ambulance Service and seen things that nobody would ever want to see, but yesterday’s call-out to Aldwych had left her badly shaken. The doodlebug rockets were worse in many ways than when the bombers droned overhead – at least then most people were in the shelters – but these new weapons arrived at any time of day or night, hurting and killing people who were just going about their everyday lives. One moment they were doing their jobs or walking down the street, the next the doodlebug came diving down on them and . . . boom.

  ‘Here she is.’ Rose’s voice startled Frankie and she looked up to see her and Josie standing in the doorway. Rose had Flora in her arms, the little girl’s arms hooked around her friend’s neck.

  ‘Mornin’, ducks,’ Josie said. ‘Mind if I join yer?’

  Frankie shook her head and beckoned Josie to sit beside her. ‘There’s tea in the pot. Rose, pour a cup for you and Josie, will you, please?’

  ‘You all right?’ Josie asked. ‘Only you look a bit peaky today.’

  ‘We had a bad call-out yesterday, doodlebug exploded in Aldwych . . . A lot of people were killed and injured. They weren’t doing anyone any harm, just going about their lives and then . . . ’ She shook her head.

  ‘I’ve come to ask your advice, but I think I know now what you’ll say.’ Josie paused to take a cup of tea that Rose had just brought out to her. ‘Thanks, ducks.’ She waited for a moment, watching as Rose led Flora down to the far end of the garden to look at the hens, and once they were out of earshot she went on, ‘I’ve been thinking about them blasted doodlebugs and the way they come over. I’m worried about my children. There’s talk of evacuating them again and I think I’ve got to send them for their own safety. I don’t want to, but if the worst happened . . .’

  Frankie put her hand on Josie’s arm. ‘After what I’ve seen, I wouldn’t hesitate to send them out of harm’s way.’

  Josie nodded. ‘That’s what me ‘ead says, even though the heart’s crying at the thought of doing it. But you know what you’re talking about, you’ve seen the ‘avoc and injuries them horrible things can cause . . . so I’ll do the right thing.’

  ‘I wish this ’orrible war was over,’ Frankie said. ‘We dare to think we’re getting somewhere and then it goes and gets even worse. So, do what you have to do to protect your children, Josie. A few months of them away in the countryside is better than the alternative of what might ’appen to them if they stay here.’

  Chapter 27

  July’s warm weather had brought perfect growing conditions for the fruits and vegetables planted on Station 75’s allotment, but it was also ideal for the weeds, too, Bella thought as she plucked out a tiny fat hen plant that was fighting for space with a small beetroot seedling. She, Winnie and Frankie had come down to the allotment this afternoon to do some weeding which Bella was enjoying. Being outside in the summer sunshine, doing a therapeutic sort of task while being able to chat with her friends – it felt perfect.

  ‘Mac hasn’t told me where he is,’ Winnie said. ‘At least if I knew that, I’d be able to look it up on a map.’

  ‘You know they can’t say where they are, Winnie, and if they did it would only get blacked out by the censor.’ Frankie leaned back on her heels. ‘I understand how it’s frustrating not knowin’, but you’ve got to stop torturing yourself about it or it’ll drive you crazy.’

  Bella looked at her two friends who were both in the same boat with their husbands somewhere in France. Luckily, Winnie and Frankie had both now heard from them since they went over with the invasion, the letters arriving just a few days ago, much to their delight. And at least her worry about her brother was over for the moment. He was still staying with their mother, though was due to return to the army to a new unit next week. Where he’d be sent to then she didn’t know. She hoped it would be somewhere in England, as she thought he’d already done his fair share of fighting. Whether the army would take that into consideration or not she didn’t know, but it was no use worrying about it now, she would have to cross that bridge if she came to it.

  ‘I know that!’ Winnie said. ‘But it won’t stop me wanting more information, I’m nosy.’ She threw a plucked weed over at Frankie who quickly retaliated, the two of them launching into a full-scale weed fight.

  ‘Hey, you two, we’re supposed to be pulling up the weeds, not throwing them around,’ Bella said, sternly.

  The pair of them stopped for a moment and grinned at each other, then with a nod of agreement both launched a barrage of plucked weeds at Bella, who put on a look of mock outrage. She had no choice but to defend herself and joined in the fight, which ended quickly when the three of them were giggling so much that they ended up lying on their backs, laughing up at the blue sky which was dappled with fluffy clouds, wh
ile Trixie cavorted around them, barking loudly.

  ‘That was fun,’ Winnie said a few minutes later.

  ‘We’ll have to clear up the mess, though.’ Bella said watching the clouds which drifted slowly over the city, tempering the heat of the sun when they passed in front of it.

  ‘We will, don’t worry,’ Frankie said. ‘But not just yet, let’s lie ’ere for a bit longer.’

  They fell into silence, and with the warmth of the day, Bella’s eyelids grew heavy and she felt herself slowly beginning to drift towards sleep. She was hauled back by Trixie’s sudden barking. Opening her eyes, and shielding them against the sun, she saw that the little dog had run off to greet a tall figure walking towards them who stopped and patted her for a moment before heading their way again. Had Station Officer Steele sent someone to fetch them?

  ‘Looks like we got a visitor.’ Frankie sat up and then nudged Bella in the arm. ‘It’s him!’

  ‘Who?’ Winnie said.

  ‘The Polish airman who helped us at Aldwych,’ Frankie whispered. ‘What’s he doing here? And why’s he carrying a bunch of flowers?’

  Bella and Winnie sat up in unison and the three of them watched as the airman approached with Trixie skipping along at his heels, clearly happy to see him.

  ‘Good afternoon.’ The airman took off his RAF cap, smoothing down his dark brown hair nervously, and bowed stiffly from the waist, clicking his heels as he did so.

  ‘Good afternoon.’ Winnie stood up. ‘Can we help you?’

  Frankie got up as well, pulling Bella with her.