It was part of a tour of the front line that the Supreme Commander of SEAC was undertaking. ‘He told us that the major difference between Allied troops and the Japanese is that the Japs wished to be killed in battle because it is the highest honour they can achieve. Lord Louis told us, “I hope you give them that pleasure.” He also said that we shouldn’t think of ourselves as the Forgotten Army because the real truth is, nobody even knows we’re here!’
Madge always admired patients who were keen to return to their units and hearing that the Allies were relentlessly driving the Japanese south also gave her a boost. All the more reason, she thought, to make sure that the boys in the wards are treated to the best Christmas Day we can put together. The odds were on the weather being sunny but slightly windy, so there was no reason why the patients couldn’t be brought out onto the ward verandas.
The forecast was certainly accurate, thought Madge, as she woke on the first Christmas Day morning she would be spending without Mum, Doris and Doreen. The good thing was that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but she was slightly worried about the wind because squalls could blow up in next to no time from the notoriously fickle Bay of Bengal and that would be the last thing they needed on today of all days. It’s going to be strange enough spending Christmas in this heat for the first time, Madge told herself.
At home the family tradition had been for everybody to open their Christmas presents after breakfast, until Mum and the girls moved from Dover to High Wycombe and Madge started at Stoke Mandeville as a trainee nurse. Then Mum ruled that presents would only be opened once her eldest daughter had arrived home from the hospital, whether she was on days or nights. Just thinking of the fun of unwrapping beautifully parcelled gifts made Madge feel a little weepy. That there had been no mail from home since the first week of the month didn’t help either.
Madge’s early morning gloom was instantly lifted, however, when the sound of footsteps thumping on the veranda of her basha was followed by a tuneless version of ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ that came bellowing through the doorway. It was Vera, of course, as full of vim and vigour as ever as she issued a simple instruction, ‘Time for us to go for breakfast, bonnie lass!’
Sister Blossom was already on duty in the nurses’ mess when they arrived, but waited until they sat down before she smiled at them. ‘A little surprise for you both.’ Madge and Vera couldn’t believe it when Blossom lifted a cloth off the tray she had brought over to them to reveal two bundles of letters from home tied in beautiful pink bows.
‘Please forgive me,’ she said, ‘but I have been keeping your letters as a special surprise for you to open on Christmas Day.’
Both girls were so moved at Blossom’s thoughtfulness, as well as relieved that their families were OK, that they stood up and gave her a great big hug.
Vera had insisted on an early breakfast rather than the usual last minute hurry-scurry for tea and a slice of toast and a race down the hill so they both had time to open their Christmas letters. Madge was touched to discover that in addition to three from Mum, there was a card from Auntie Beatrice in Dover and another from all the girls on Tommy Kilner’s plastic surgery team at Stoke Mandeville. Of the three letters Madge received from home it was the one telling her what was going to happen at the family home in High Wycombe on Christmas Day that interested her most.
‘You’ll never guess what Mum and the girls are having for Christmas dinner,’ she said to Vera. ‘Roast chicken, just like we will be here.’ Mum said that the special treat was all down to Doris, who was getting on really well at the farm in East Grinstead where she was now working for the Women’s Land Army. The chicken as well as a dozen fresh eggs were her Christmas bonus and she was planning on carefully bringing the lot back to High Wycombe. Madge’s mouth watered as she imagined what Mum would cook up for pudding. A Victoria sponge, gingerbread or maybe a fruit crumble!
She heard that Doris had been boasting that the man who owned the farm was very pleased with the way she had fitted in and said that she had green fingers.
I told her there was a simple answer to that one: Try washing your hands more often.
The gentle family humour made Madge wistful and she wondered if she should tell Mum and her sisters about Basil, but decided it was all a little too early. There’ll be plenty of time for that in the new year, she decided.
The first thing Madge noticed as she walked down the hill after breakfast was a great big ‘Happy Christmas’ sign in front of one of the basha wards. She wondered where on earth it had appeared from. Big Arthur, one of the hospital guards, soon answered that question as he marched past on his rounds, gave her a cheery wave, and said, ‘All the best, Madge. Do you like the greeting that me and the lads have been working on?’
‘Nice, very nice,’ replied Madge, although she saw that it had been placed outside one of the Indian wards where she would be nursing through the day and she worried about what the patients might think. She soon saw that there was nothing to worry about; they were also looking forward to the day and wanted to know all about it. I know just the man to answer all those questions, Madge thought to herself.
Reverend John Davies arrived just before lunch, having visited other patients earlier
