The following morning Madge went straight to the kitchens and could hardly believe the feast that had been produced. She was told with great pride that among the contents of the two huge, flower-decked baskets were freshly baked bread, cold pureed vegetable soup, tomatoes, spring onions, samosas, pakoras, spiced potatoes, curry sauces, chicken breasts, roast beef, and enough cakes, Indian kheer (rice pudding) and fresh fruit ‘to feed the 14th Army’. Hidden away in the bottom of one of the baskets was an expensive bottle of bubbly the girls in the nurses’ mess at 56 IGH had clubbed together to buy. That’s so kind and thoughtful of the girls. I must remember to thank each and every one of them, she said to herself. The sadness of the previous evening had eased and she suddenly started to laugh. This hospital is no different to any other, she mused. Any news here travels at the speed of light.
The weather forecast predicted a cloudless, sunny day with light winds and at 10 a.m. on the dot Basil arrived in a chauffeured jeep for the drive to Patanga beach, about an hour north of Chittagong on the Bay of Bengal. The traffic on the way down was mainly military in one form or another.
A virtually deserted golden beach was bathed in sunlight and the gentlest of breezes wafted through the few palm trees. Just weeks previously there had been numerous freighters and naval vessels off the coast, but many had already moved south so the view out into the placid sea was unblemished. Madge and Basil quickly changed into their swimming costumes, politely and bashfully looking away from each other. They ran into the sea together holding hands and floated on their backs looking at the sky. The water was so warm it felt like they were swimming in a warm bath. Madge knew this was a day she’d never forget.
They stayed in the water for an age before emerging to enjoy the picnic that had been so superbly prepared by her friends from the kitchen staff at 56 IGH it seemed almost a shame to eat it. The chicken was delicately spiced with masala and there was even horseradish to go with the cold beef.
‘You never got to the end of that tale you started on our last night in Calcutta. If you have a moment after your second portion of that delicious rice pudding,’ she teased with a cheeky grin, ‘perhaps you would be so kind as to continue.’
‘Well, Nurse Graves,’ he said, ‘as you have asked so nicely I will do so – with great pleasure.’
He had been telling Madge about how he and his brother Brian fared on the Strathaird, the troopship that took them from Gourock to Bombay on a journey that ended for him in Chittagong.
‘We didn’t exactly travel first class like you ladies,’ he said with a smile as they lazed on a rug after lunch.
The temperature at Patanga was almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit so they went back into the sea to cool down and as they swam Basil continued his story.
‘Brian and I were six decks down and on a mess deck with fixed tables. Every night forty or fifty of us cadets would hang our hammocks and swing back and forth together with the ship as it zigzagged in the Atlantic. We had to change course constantly to avoid the German Wolfpacks so the ship was always pitching and rolling. We slept remarkably well,’ he laughed. ‘The main problem was that the heads were always in use as so many of the cadets were seasick!’
Basil went on to tell Madge how eventually the troopships pulled in to Freetown to take on fresh supplies and remained there for three days. The locals came alongside in their bum boats and sold lots of local produce to the troops by throwing up ropes attached to baskets.
‘Children would swim out to our boat and beg for money, but would only dive for silver coins so we covered the copper coins with silver paper and it worked for a while but they soon cottoned on to that,’ Basil said. ‘On the third day we rejoined the naval escorts and continued zigzagging down the Atlantic coast of Africa, past Cape Town and on to Durban, where the beef was even better than what I had in Calcutta!’
Virtually all the ship’s passengers came on deck as the Strathaird pulled out of Durban harbour to listen to the muchloved Lady in White, a retired opera singer called Perla Siedle Gibson, who sang to all Allied ships ‘There’ll always be an England’, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ and other favourites through a loudspeaker as she stood on the harbour wall.
‘She gave us and, no doubt, thousands of others a huge boost as we steamed out to sea again. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such applause and cheering, and she waved to us until we were out of sight.’
Basil explained that his ship eventually left the convoy and sailed to Port Suez, where the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders disembarked to fight in the North African campaign. The troopship then proceeded on the last leg of its long journey to India. Madge interrupted to ask Basil if he wanted yet another helping of rice pudding, but he laughed her off and instead began to tell her about his first memory of Bombay. He said
