by Griff Hosker
It took some minutes for him to reach the telephone and when he heard my voice he was worried, "Something wrong Tom?"
I suddenly felt foolish. I was ringing the War Office about something trivial. "Sorry to bother you but I have been given the Cross."
I heard the relief in his voice, "I know. I heard. Sorry I couldn't tell you."
I was suddenly aware that Reg, while apparently reading reports was listening. "Look, do you think Susan would want to come to the ceremony? It is at Windsor Castle and I can bring two guests. There will only be Mum and..."
I heard the laugh on the other end as he interrupted me, "And you want me to ask her for you! Of course she would love to come. Every time I pass through Operations she asks about you and I am certain that the Dragon will give her leave! Give me the details."
I read them out to him.
"Good. I am pleased for you, Tom." He hesitated, "The training is still going well?"
"Oh yes. The hardest part will be choosing the three I will take with me."
"General Marlowe never tires of telling all and sundry how he and his staff were captured by you and your team. Enjoy your day and leave the rest to me."
Reg put the papers down and smiled, "Everything sorted sir?"
I nodded, "Everything sorted."
"I'll get Larkin to book you into a hotel in Windsor sir. Do you want me to arrange one for your Mum and your young lady too?"
"Mum said she will drive. It isn't far and the train service from London is a good one so I think they should be fine. Thanks Reg."
He nodded, "We look after our own here, sir."
Larkin had come up trumps. He had booked me a room in the Garter Inn which was directly opposite the castle. I arrived the night before so that I was able to reconnoitre my route. It was inbred in me now. I was able to see the town, castle and river. They were all impressive. Although the staff were well used to the hotel being used for such ceremonies they still made a fuss of me. With most of the young men at war it was old staff, brought back out of retirement who worked there. The old soldiers from the Great War recognised my medals. Dad had told me that those who had fought in the Great War never forgot.
The ceremony was set for eleven o'clock. Toppy had rung to tell me that Susan would be coming and would be arriving on the nine o'clock train. Mum would park the car at the hotel. I had a dilemma. Did I wait for Mum or go to meet Susan? I was finishing my breakfast at seven thirty when Mum appeared in the door. She rushed over and threw her arms around me, "I am so proud of you!"
The ancient waiter said, "Would madam like breakfast?"
"A cup of coffee would be wonderful, thank you." She sat down as he whisked her coat away.
"You must have left early."
"You don't think I was going to have you receive the medal alone! Your Dad and Mary will both be sorry to have missed it. You will have one person there, at least."
I could not keep the smile from my mouth nor the blush from my cheeks as I said, "Actually, Mum. There will be two."
"Two?"
I told her how I had met Susan. I left out the incident with the thugs. I watched her face as I finished. The waiter had brought her coffee. She looked down at the cup and when she looked at me I saw that her eyes were filling with tears. She said, huskily, "I was already happy this morning, Tom but this news is even better!"
"Mum! I took a young lady out on one date and we have exchanged a few letters."
"And yet you invite her here and she is coming, on her own, from London! A mother knows. What time is her train due in?"
"I think it is nine forty five."
"Well we shall be waiting for her at nine thirty!"
I was not the only one to be receiving a medal and there were others who were being given awards. The train from London was more crowded than it might have been. Mum had linked my arm as I stared down the platform looking for her. What had seemed like a good idea was now turning sour. Suppose they didn't get on? Would I be scaring Susan away? After all a trip to the castle was one thing but the presence of my mother implied so much more.
I saw her and she waved. Mum said, "She is pretty!"
I smiled as she drew close, "Susan, this is my Mum. Mum..."
Mum disengaged herself, "Give her a hug, you goose!"
Feeling as though the whole station was watching I put my arms around her and squeezed. As soon as I did I realised that I didn't care who was watching. We both turned our heads and kissed, "Thank you for coming."
She stepped back and stared at me, "Are you serious? This is wonderful and I am honoured that you asked me." She held her hand out, "Pleased to meet you Mrs Harsker. Has he always been like this?"
Mum laughed, "Always, and call me Beattie."
The two of them took an arm each and I was marched down the platform. They spoke across me as we headed out of the station towards the castle. Mum began telling Susan of me growing up and I found myself colouring despite the chill January air. As we approached Windsor Castle with the Guards, now in khaki, waiting for us they subsided. Mum asked, "Will it be the King who makes the award?"
I said, "I am not certain."
Susan looked at the other small groups who were queuing to be admitted. "Are these all getting medals?"
"If they are in uniform then yes."
"Any other Victoria Crosses?"
"I don't know."
We were taken to a waiting room before an equerry sent us in to the hall where the ceremony would take place. The order was precise. The awards would lead up to mine. I was the only Victoria Cross. It was to be the King who would make the presentation. The Queen was in attendance too. I thought that the King look drawn but then I had only ever seen photographs of him. Some of those who went up to receive the D.S.O, D.F.C, M.M. and M.C. had been wounded. There were representatives from every service. I saw nurses there too. I felt a fraud. Some of these had wounds and I had barely received a scratch. The only other Commando to have received the Cross was Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Keyes. He had been awarded it posthumously. He had been my age when he had died. I felt a prickle across my neck as though someone was walking on my grave.
When my name was called and I stepped forward I felt every eye on me. I was the last award. I followed the instructions given to me by the equerry to the letter. The King smiled and spoke quietly with just the hint of a stammer. "It is good to see someone even more nervous than I am."
"Sorry, Your Majesty."
"Don't be. They tell me that your father has one of these too." I nodded. "This country is lucky to have such brave warriors fighting for her." He looked behind me, "Is that your mother?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. She was a nurse in the Great War."
"She did her part too. Any other family?"
"A sister, Mary, Your Majesty, she is an air ferry pilot."
He shook his head, "We will never forget what all of you have done for this country and this Empire. The sacrifices which our people make never cease to amaze us." He leaned forward, "Make sure you survive this war, young man. Our country will have need of the likes of you in the days when this is over."
I remembered his words long after the memory of the ceremony had faded. I felt he had meant them and that touched me.
Mum was like a schoolgirl as we left. "We must have lunch! My treat!"
Susan looked at her watch. "I have to get back to London. I was given the time off to come but I have to be on duty this evening."
"Nonsense, I shall drive you back. It is only five minutes to London from here! Besides that will give us the chance to chat away from my embarrassed son!"
When Mum had the wind in her sails she was a force of nature but I took heart that Susan and she seemed to get on. We had a lovely lunch in the hotel. The staff made a real fuss of the three of us and we could not have had better service. When Susan began to look nervously at her watch Mum said, "I will pay the bill and then fetch the car around." She pecked me on the cheek, "You two can talk!" She shooed us away.
"I
like your Mum."
"Really? I didn't know if you thought it was a bit much, I mean we have only just met."
"Your mum is right! You might be a good soldier and a hero but you have not got the first clue about women! I knew from the moment you spoke that you were the only man for me. And if you don't know that I am the only woman for you ... well I shall just have to change your mind."
I felt relief, "Well of course but... I mean... I thought these things took much longer."
She nodded as she rose and the waiter brought her coat, "That was peace time when we had time for such luxuries. This is war and you snatch happiness where you can. I have got you now and believe me I am not letting you go."
She cuddled into my arm as we left. Amazingly I was not embarrassed. Mum was at the front of the hotel in the shooting brake. Susan turned and kissed me hard on the lips. She said, quietly, "I know where you are going. When you are over there remember that I am watching everything that you do. I will be praying for you the whole time. Come back safely, my love! I love you, always."
I could not speak. If I had tried then I would have made a fool of myself. Mum must have realised too for, as I went round to her door she squeezed my hand, "Take care son. We are all proud of you."
And then they were gone and it was back to the war for me.
Chapter 10
I chose my first team carefully. I knew that I had disappointed the ones I did not choose. I chose Sergeant Poulson. He was calm, dependable and had mastered German better than the other two sergeants. I chose Roger Beaumont. His German was almost perfect and he had shown himself to be resourceful. The last one I chose was Scouse Fletcher. He had already impressed me but stealing the keys from the dockyard had been the act of a magician. I felt I would need those skills. His German was not the equal of the others but it was better than the rest of the team. When I told the others of my decision and the reasons I saw the resolution on their faces as they determined to become as proficient in German as the ones I took.
We travelled to Southampton in our regulation uniforms but we had the German ones and guns in kit bags. While Gordy remained with the rest Bill Hay came with us to act as liaison. We had not operated like this before and I needed someone in Southampton who knew the way we worked.
The submarine was moored at the end of a line of three submarines. We boarded by crossing to their tender and then descending the ladder to walk across the other subs first. Bill came with us, helping to carry our bags. He would wait while we changed and then take our bags back.
Lieutenant Commander Reid was a regular officer. He was older than I expected with flecks of grey in his hair. He had been watching our approach from the steel hull of the vessel. "I thought there were just four of you, Captain?"
"The sergeant here will be taking back our gear once we have changed."
"Good. It will be a tight squeeze as it is. Come on in then."
We entered a hatch by the aft torpedo room. "This will be your nest until we land."
"Right lads, let's get changed."
The Lieutenant Commander looked amused as we stripped and then dressed in German uniforms. "Risky, wearing German uniforms."
"They shoot Commandos anyway." I turned to the other three. "Make sure you have no papers on you." I knew they had none but it paid to be careful. "Right Hay. You look after the bags and, hopefully, we will see you when we return."
He took the two kit bags. "You watch out for yourselves eh, sir?"
He threw the bags through the hatch and then clambered up after them. The Lieutenant Commander looked at the uniforms. "Where did you get those and the guns?"
"This is not our first time behind enemy lines. We are magpies."
"Right. Well Captain, if you would like to come with me I will go through the operation with you. You chaps make yourself comfortable."
Scouse said, "You got a shroud then sir?"
"A shroud?"
"Aye sir, to go with this coffin we are in!"
As we walked forrard the Lieutenant Commander said, "I take it your men are not fans of the submarine."
"None of us are. We have done this before. We even had to lie off the bottom close to the Channel islands and suffer depth charges."
"Then you have experience. That helps." We had reached the control room. He waved forward his navigation officer, "This is Lieutenant Dixon. He will be responsible for getting us to the right place."
The Lieutenant pointed at the map. "We were going to drop you here to the west of the mole close to the beach."
I shook my head, "The beach will be mined. The closer to the mole and the sea wall the better. How are we getting ashore? Dinghy or canoe?"
"We have two man canoes for you."
The amount of training we had received had prepared me for that. "Then the sea wall will be fine. We will put stones in the canoes to keep them below the water. And the pick up?"
"We will lie a mile north of the low water mark. We surface at dusk and we will watch for your signal." Fletcher did not have an Aldis but we had a heavy duty German torch.
"How long can you wait for us?"
"We will have to be away an hour before dawn. Sorry."
"Don't be. If we aren't back by then we aren't coming."
The Lieutenant flashed a look at his superior who smiled, "These are commandos John. They know the score. Right Captain. You will want to get your head down. We have a long voyage ahead of us."
We had practised with both dinghies and canoes. I preferred canoes; they were faster and easier to hide. When I told my team they were pleased too. "Check your weapons. I hope we don't have to use them but you never know."
"And we still lay up during the day?"
"We do Sergeant although I think we will lie up in plain sight."
"How do you mean sir?"
Beaumont was still new to this. "We are dressed in German uniforms. There will be cafes and bars. We find a quiet one and nurse a couple of drinks."
"Like we did in North Africa, sir."
"Exactly Sergeant. We will use the money we lifted from the dead Germans. As we won't get much sleep over there you might as well get as much shut eye here as you can."
Scouse shook his head, "I can't sleep in a sub sir. I feel like the walls are closing in on me."
"Well get as much rest as you can. Tired men make mistakes."
After I had checked my Luger I lay down on the mattress they had provided. It was not the walls which got to me it was the smell. The stale air smelled heavy and was filled with oil, battery acid and sweat. As this was the start of the voyage the smell would only get worse. As I closed my eyes I reflected that it would only last until France and then we would have fresh air and the danger of death. I must have slept although Beaumont did point out that the carbon dioxide in the air would have made it more likely I was semi-conscious rather than asleep.
We were brought food an hour before we surfaced. It too tasted of battery acid and stale air. We ate because we needed to rather than because we wanted to. My three men had German rifles. Poulson had a Mauser pistol secreted in his German battle dress. I just had my Luger. As I had the proper holster for it I looked the part. Our German greatcoats would hide most things. We did not don them yet. We would wait until we left the submarine. The hatches were narrow.
The Midshipman came along, "Sir, the Captain says it is almost time."
"Thanks Middy."
I led my men through the length of the submarine. We paused at the coning tower. "Everything set?"
I nodded, "Fletcher here has the signals. With a bit of luck we will see you in twenty four hours."
"Good luck!"
"Thanks."
I saw nods from the crew as we went along. It was as though they were saying farewell to condemned men. For my part I was just glad to be getting off the submarine. I would never get used to them. When the hatch closed above you it felt as though they had screwed down a coffin lid! We moved into the forward torpedo room. The two canoes were tak
ing up most of the space and I suspected that the torpedo room crew would be glad to see the back of them.
Lieutenant Dixon stood waiting. "Are you sure these will do? We can inflate a dinghy if you like."
"These are fine. We want to be in as quickly as we can. What is the weather like up top?"
"Raining with flecks of snow and sleet. Sorry."
"Don't be those are perfect for us." We made our way to the hatch and stood with the two seamen who would open it.
We waited and then heard. "Prepare to surface." The lights went to red and we heard the hiss as the tanks were emptied. We must have been at periscope depth as we heard, almost immediately, "Open forward hatch!"
The two sailors reached up to open the hatch and an icy flood of water showered them and spattered us. It was a reminder that this was still winter. I climbed out and crouched on the pitching deck. I could see nothing ahead and that was a good thing. It meant we could not be seen either. I put on my greatcoat and moved to the bow to allow the others out. I watched while my men and the two ratings manhandled the canoes on to the submarine's deck.
Beaumont said, in German, "Ready, sir." From now on it would be German only until we boarded the submarine again.
I went to join Fletcher who was in the bow of the first canoe. It tipped alarmingly when I got in but they were a very stable craft as had been shown in the raid up the Gironde in forty two. Fletcher handed me my paddle and we set off into the darkness. The submarine was pointed towards the mouth of the river. If Lieutenant Dixon had done his job then we just had to paddle straight ahead. The wind and the rain were in our faces. It would take longer to complete the mile or so to the shore. I did not take my eyes off the bow. "Are they on station?"
A moment later Fletcher said, "Yes sir." His accent was terrible. The less he spoke German the better. At least he understood more these days.
We soon got into the rhythm. We had practised with both canoe and dinghy. The canoe was easier to use. As the blades dug in we began to make better progress. I heard an engine to our left. I did not stop paddling but peered into the dark. I caught a shadow of a boat like shape. Suddenly a searchlight stabbed into the black of night. Fortunately it was pointing out to sea. They were looking for the submarine. We had heard they had underwater listening devices. This was proof. It might cause a problem getting out but that was for the future. The searchlight had allowed me to see that it was a minesweeper type ship called an R ship. They had depth charges and cannon.
