‘Within four months of arriving in India and after an intensive course at the Officers’ Training Centre in Mhow, 350 miles from Bombay, my brother and I were awarded emergency commissions in the Indian Army, 10th Baluch regiment. We were immediately seconded to Movements and Transportation for operations with the 14th Army in Burma. We then returned to Bombay for more in-depth Movement tuition and while we were living in the Colaba district there was another little incident involving a certain Mr Gandhi that may interest you,’ he told Madge.
‘I assure you that I’ve heard so much about Gandhi that anything about him really interests me,’ said Madge.
Basil held his hands in the air and jokingly asked for permission to continue and when Madge nodded he added that Mahatma Gandhi had not long been released from the Aga Khan’s palace where he had been in custody on hunger strike in protest against British rule.
‘A group of us who had been swimming at a pool on Malabar Hill saw him as he walked at the front of a large group of people. It wasn’t a demonstration, just a group following the great man, so I filmed it all on my cine-camera. I was so thrilled to have seen him. After handing the film in to be developed I returned a few days later to find the footage was a complete blank. I’m absolutely certain it was censored because other things had also been removed on the film as well. I was so disappointed to have lost such an interesting piece of history,’ he added.
The day at Patanga beach just seemed to fly by as Basil continued to tell Madge about his time in India before they met. He told her about how after Bombay he was sent to New Delhi to pick up his own Movements unit complete with staff, office stores, cabinets and a 15-cwt lorry – all of which was transported to Chittagong in time for his arrival before Christmas.
‘During the following year I suffered from malaria, then diphtheria a few months later, so I got to know 68 IGH, your sister hospital, quite well. The best thing about the move to Chittagong was it meant I had the lasting pleasure of meeting you,’ he told Madge.
‘That’s very kind of you to say so,’ she replied, feeling ever so shy all of a sudden. ‘And it’s important that you know the feeling is mutual. Absolutely mutual.’
Basil had thought long and hard about what to discuss and what to say on that final day together. He knew already that he was head over heels in love with Madge and under normal circumstances a picnic on a deserted golden beach with the sun beaming through palm trees and a balmy breeze wafting in from the Bay of Bengal would have been an ideal setting in which to ask for her hand in marriage.
He also thought long and hard about the potential consequences of missing the perfect opportunity in the perfect location. A beautiful English nurse among thousands of lonely, homesick soldiers would never be short of company. It was a community that lived day to day under intolerable pressure. What would happen if through sheer loneliness she fell for another? What if one of those absurdly handsome and infinitely charming American airmen whisked her off to the USA?
Logically this was the day. This was the hour. But much as he wanted to follow his heart his head told him otherwise. In the end there was a heartbreakingly honourable reason why he decided not to go down on one knee and ask Madge to marry him. He simply couldn’t bear the possibility of this caring, compassionate and very loveable young lady becoming a war widow at the tender age of twenty-one.
I just hope with all my heart that everything will fall into place if we ever get back to England and we are able to meet again, thought Basil.
After another dip to cool down and a short nap they spent the rest of the afternoon letting the cares and worries of the past and future drift on the tide. They talked and talked and Madge made sure that Basil still had her mum’s addresses in both High Wycombe and Dover. He, in turn, double-checked that Madge had the address of his parents Alys and Herbert in Surrey. The question of marriage was never brought up. No promises of undying love were made, but without spelling it out, an unbreakable bond had been formed and Madge dreamed that somewhere, sometime, they would meet again. Even the normally insufferable humidity was the lowest it had been for weeks and Madge thought things were so perfect it was almost too good to be true.
She was right. An hour later they had both turned bright pink and were on the verge of sunstroke. They’d thought that if they stayed in the sea they wouldn’t be burned by the sun’s rays, but it didn’t quite work out like that as the salt in the water helped to blister their bodies.
‘Look at us! We’re red as lobsters,’ said Madge.
‘Apart from one place,’ said Basil. Madge looked a little closer at him. The sun had intensified their already yellowish faces into sallow masks.
‘If there’s one thing I won’t miss, it’s mepacrine,’ Madge said, covering her own face with embarrassment.
Basil gently prised her hands from her face. ‘You’re beautiful, no matter what,’ he said as he leaned in for their final, agonising kiss on the beach that day.
‘There’s one thing we cannot do,’ he said, as they got ready to leave. ‘We cannot report to the doctor, as putting ourselves out of active duty is
