‘In February, our Allied shipping was under a very dangerous threat. Very sadly, the valiant HMS Daring was lost. Can you tell me how?’
‘Torpedoed, Miss!’
‘A German U-boat got ‘er!’
‘Very good,’ said Mrs Howard.
‘Me brover’s in the navy,’ shouted Jimmy Burns, a little boy who sat at the front of the class. ‘He’s gonna sink all ‘itler’s submarines.’
Most of the class giggled and Daisy watched Mrs Howard smile sadly. ‘I’m sure he’ll do his best, Jimmy.’
Though this was a lighter moment, Mrs Howard was as usual, quite practical. ‘Who can tell me what countries were invaded in April despite valiant defence by the French and our Royal Navy?’
‘Denmark and Norway,’ everyone shouted.
‘And bugger to the Nazis!’ yelled a tall boy with a thin, hungry face.
Mrs Howard wagged a finger. ‘Richard, less of the bad language please. Now, we come to last month and the most harrowing turn of events so far. Our Dutch and Belgian friends fell to Hitler’s Blitzkreig. After which, German troops reached Amiens on the Somme, only sixty miles from Paris.’
Daisy thought of Aunt Pat and her beau, Lloyd, who died such a gruesome death in the flooded trenches of the Somme. How could it be that only twenty years later the world had allowed the same tragedy to happen again?
Above all, she thought of Matt who had secured leave to come home in just a few days.
‘They’ll be ‘ere next,’ an older boy said who sat next to Daisy. ‘Our blokes are gonna get wiped out over the Channel. They’ll be like rats caught in a trap.’
Mrs Howard straightened her back and looked her pupil sternly in the eye. ‘It’s true our British Expeditionary Forces are outnumbered on the beaches of Dunkirk. But we were driven back by an unbelievably huge German army, after the surrender of Belgium.’
‘Me cousin Reggie’s on a warship,’ piped up Gary, one of the Mellish twins. ‘Reckon our navy’ll give Jerry hell!’
Mrs Howard nodded, but her placid face was worried. ‘We’ll say prayers for your cousin, Gary, just as we will for every soul in combat.’ She clasped her fingers and bowed her head.
Daisy did the same. No one was giggling or making fun. They all understood how desperate the situation was. Only last night on the wireless, it was said that a miracle was needed to save the lives of the Allied troops stranded on the coast of France.
CHAPTER 35
DAISY AND BOBBY were allowed to stay home from school on the day Matt started his twenty-four hour leave. Mother baked cakes and Amelia arrived early in order to help with preparations. Daisy thought how young she looked with her coppery brown waves flowing loose across her shoulders, framing her pale face and deep green eyes. She wore a simple white blouse and navy skirt, which Daisy thought made her look very pretty.
‘We’ll have lunch,’ Mother said as they laid the table with Miss Ayling’s best silverware, china and neatly starched napkins. ‘But afterwards, you and Matt must see your parents and then enjoy an evening together.’
‘We want to walk to Island Gardens,’ said Amelia simply. ‘And sit and talk.’
‘Don’t you want to go to the pictures or something?’ Daisy couldn’t imagine the park would prove the least bit exciting.
Amelia blushed. ‘You’ll understand when you get older.’
‘Daisy,’ said Mother sternly, ‘you have the knives the wrong way round.’
When the knock at the door came, everyone rushed at once to open it.
Matt stood on the doorstep and everyone pounced on him. Daisy thought how handsome he looked in his blue cadet’s uniform with a side cap perched on his blond hair cut very short at the sides. A little badge was pinned to the cap cloth, with the initials ADCC under the wings motif.
Matt abandoned his kit bag, scooped off his cap and one by one hauled them into his arms. But Daisy saw that his eyes searched for Amelia who stood back, her hands folded nervously together.
They were left alone in the hall to embrace and Daisy followed Mother to the kitchen while Pops and Bobby studied the newspaper in the living room.
When everyone was together, Matt told them a little about his life at camp. ‘We aren’t allowed to give away specific details,’ he said apologetically as he sat on the couch hand in hand with Amelia. ‘But I can tell you that my duties at first, included everything but flying.’ He gave a deep chuckle, his voice low and confident. ‘We’ve endured hours doing paperwork and clerical stuff,’ he continued, ‘which reminded me just why I want to be airborne.’
‘But that’s rotten,’ protested Bobby, looking disappointed. ‘You won’t have to write stuff when you’re flying a plane!’
‘You’d be surprised, little brother. Records have to be kept and an enormous amount of data is sent up to HQ. But it certainly made me realise that life between four walls is certainly not for me.’ He glanced quickly at Amelia. ‘I mean, darling, the four walls of a home is quite different to an office.’
Daisy saw Amelia nod, though she did look a little put out.
‘What else did you do?’ Bobby asked eagerly, perched on the edge of his seat.
‘We filled hundreds of sandbags and sorted out stores and equipment next.’
Bobby looked disheartened. ‘That doesn’t sound very exciting.’
Mother held up her hand. ‘Bobby, your brother is trying to give us an account of his life at camp and he can’t get on with it, if you keep interrupting.’
‘It wasn’t very glamorous at first,’ grinned Matt giving Bobby a wink. ‘But then, the discipline you’ve learned on the ground, is the same as you have to learn in the air. When things go wrong, you can’t panic. You just have to get on with it.’ Matt chuckled again. ‘It was in spring, when we started handling the aircraft and lending a bit of muscle to the squadrons, that things got interesting.’
Daisy watched as her brother’s eyes, far from
