As we neared the coast a small city appeared to the south of us. There were some bursts of flack as we passed it but none of it came close enough to bother us. To the north was a wide inlet and what appeared to be a large island, I recognized it as Zeeland in the Netherlands which meant the city to the south was Brugge.
Minutes later we crossed the coast and Buffy banked us until we were flying almost due west. We had argued about what we were going to do if, or as Buffy maintained when, we reached England. I was for setting down at the first available place; she insisted we fly home to Spilsby. I did not like the idea of having to fly that much further north given the range of the Me-262, it would be stretching it. She didn't want to try to come in to some strange airfield, she was also concerned, and I had to concede her point, that the airfields in southern England were much more heavily defended and much more alert for German intruders. It would be very ironic if we got shot down when we were almost home.
The argument that finally convinced me was the danger of being intercepted. The British had a detection system established all along the coast and would be able to track us as we approached. If we were losing altitude and slowing down to find an airfield to land at we could get bounced. Given the Me-262's poor acceleration and responses at low speed we would be the worst situation possible, we would be sitting ducks. So we had decided to try to make it to Spilsby, we knew that field intimately and we would be able to make a straight in approach, maintaining speed and altitude until the last couple of minutes.
We still had to worry about getting intercepted but to counter that we had decided to head for London initially. Once we got over Britain itself the detection system did not function as well, instead they relied on aircraft spotters and listening posts. We would be high and difficult to track. I also thought it was highly unlikely that any Me-262s had been over Britain, their ground stations wouldn't have any experience with aircraft moving as fast as we were or sounding like we did.
Ahead of us I saw the coast of England rise out of the water, minutes later we were over the coast, I shook my head in amazement – we had made it! Halfway to London we banked to the north and set our course for Spilsby. I was keeping a sharp eye on my fuel gauges, they were almost to empty and then the red low fuel warning light came on, I had fifteen minutes of fuel left. I pressed the transmit button on the stick, "Buffy, Low fuel."
Buffy responded immediately, "Roger, ditto… abort?"
I thought for only a moment, we would be starting our decent pretty quick, it would be close but we should be able to stretch it, "Negative."
Five minutes later Buffy nosed over into a shallow dive, I followed her and pulled back the throttles to just above idle, our dive kept our speed up. So far I had seen no sign of any other aircraft; I hoped our luck would hold for another ten minutes. The deep bay of 'The Wash' flashed under us and I could see the small town of Boston to our left. Buffy kept us diving until we were only a couple hundred feet above the rolling hills and still doing well over three hundred miles an hour.
I glanced nervously at my fuel gauges, both needles were resting on their pegs, empty as far as they were concerned but the turbines still whined. We were bleeding speed slowly as we rocketed over the patch work quilt of farm land. Finally, ahead of us, I picked out the flat expanse of the airfield, indistinct in the distance but I knew it well.
Buffy's flaps started down and her plane started slowing more quickly, I matched her, keeping my position thirty feet off her wing tip and just a little behind. Our speed was coming down more quickly now but we were still going too fast, both of us dropped our landing gear at the same moment, the additional drag slowing us quickly as we flashed over the small wood at the end of the runway.
We were dropping quickly as we crossed the wood and then I saw the perimeter fence in front of us. Movement to my left caught my eye and I saw a couple soldiers diving into the pit containing one of our 20mm anti-aircraft guns, another soldier was frantically trying to remove the cover from the gun barrel. As I crossed the perimeter fence there was a soft 'whumph' and one of the turbines started whining down, the plane lurched a little to the left with the loss of power but I straightened her out. I pulled back on the stick, flaring her the last fifty feet until my main gear touched down ten feet past the start of the runway.
Buffy was ahead of me, her plane settled to the runway, the main wheels touching down with small puffs of smoke. We were rolling fast, losing speed only slowly as the wheels thumped over the pierced steel runway and a small vibration set in. Another soft 'whumph' and my second engine shut down. Ahead of me a jet of flame came from Buffy's right engine and then a puff of dirty grey smoke, followed moments later with the same final jet and then smoke as her two engines ran out of fuel.
We let the planes roll, using the brakes lightly, and used the entire runway, coming to a stop side by side fifty feet from the end of the runway. In a daze I reached over and safed the guns and then flipped off the master circuit breaker. It was quiet except for the occasional ping of cooling metal and the sound of a soft wind blowing against the canopy, nothing like the screaming air and whining turbines of the last two hours. My mind was numb, I couldn't seem to comprehend that we had actually pulled it off.
I noticed movement to my left and watched as Buffy swung her canopy open, then she was rising up out of her plane. Her helmet was off and her blonde hair blew in the breeze, she stood straight up and lifted her hands high above her head. A length of white cloth, parachute silk I realized, streamed out from her hands as she held them high above her head.
I came out of my daze and released my seatbelts and removed my helmet. I unlatched the canopy and swung it open and stood up on my seat. I imitated Buffy and raised my hands high over my head but I didn't have any parachute silk to fly. I looked around, in front of us I saw a soldier running toward us, a rifle in his hands waving between me and Buffy, one of the airfield perimeter guards. As he neared the end of the runway Buffy's voice rang out, "Peterson! If you shoot me I swear I'll haunt you for the rest of your life!"
The soldier came stumbling to a stop about ten feet in front of us, his rifle still held against his shoulder but he wasn't aiming it at us any more, instead he was staring at us round eyed, his eyes slowly shifting from Buffy to me and back again, "Colonel Summers?! Major Thompson?!"
"Peterson, safe your weapon and shoulder it!"
He slowly lowered his rifle and then I heard the welcome sound of the safety clicking on and then he slung the rifle over his shoulder. He seemed to snap out of his daze and came to attention and raised his hand in salute, not technically correct since he was armed he should be giving us a rifle salute but I wasn't about to quibble. Buffy snapped her hand to her forehead in a quick response, "At ease, Peterson."
He dropped his hand, after a moment a grin started forming, "Welcome back, Colonel! And you to Major!"
"Thank you, Peterson; it's good to be back."
I turned my head at the sound of squealing tires behind us, two 6x6 trucks came to a stop and soldiers started jumping out from under the canvas covered beds, their rifles held across their chests. Buffy and I were still standing with our arms high above our heads. I watched as a jeep swung wide around the planes and then come to a stop next to Peterson, two soldiers leaped out of the back and pointed their rifles at us. A lieutenant stood up in the passenger seat and stared at us, Buffy's voice broke the silence, "Lieutenant Fredericks! Have your men shoulder their weapons, we don't want anyone getting shot this morning!"
Fredericks just stared at her in amazement, and then I saw his eyes swivel to mine. The two soldiers gaped at us for a moment and then rose from their crouch and slung their rifles over their shoulders. Buffy tried again, "Lieutenant Fredericks!"
He seemed to shake himself and then he snapped to attention and saluted her, "Sir!"
Buffy waved her hand at her forehead again, "Fredericks, have half your men set up a perimeter around these planes, I don't want anyone coming close to them without my or Major Thompson's express permission." Fredericks had dropped his hand but still seemed stunned, "Move it, Lieutenant!"
Finally he seemed to come out of it, "First squad, set a perimeter! Second squad back on the truck! Sergeant McHenry, nobody is to get within 20 feet of these planes!"
From behind us I heard a deep voice, "Yes sir! You heard the Lieutenant! First squad set a perimeter!"
There was a scramble of bodies and soon a ring of soldiers were surrounding us, they weren't doing a very good job of looking outward, most of them had their heads turned and were watching us but at least all their rifles were slung over their shoulders and not pointed at us. Buffy and I lowered our hands and then we got out of the cockpits and walked along the wing to the engine nacelle where we used the built in steps to get to the ground. As we walked up to the Lieutenant he got out of the jeep and stepped toward us. He came to attention as we got close, "Welcome back, sirs!"
Buffy grinned, "At ease! Thank you, Fredericks; it will be good to be back once people stop pointing guns at us every couple of minutes."
Fredericks relaxed and then started to grin, "It might help if you weren't dressed as you were."
Buffy shook her head ruefully, "Yeah, but it's too damn cold to be out here without a jacket, besides it's not much better underneath and I'm certainly not stripping to my underwear!"
Fredericks chuckled, "How the he… how did you do it?"
Buffy shook her head, "It's a long story, Lieutenant."
The sound of another jeep approaching drew our attention, it pulled around the planes and a couple soldiers moved aside to let it come through their ring. It pulled up behind Frederick's jeep and Tammy Nelson got slowly out and walked up to us, she came to a stop and pulled herself stiffly to attention and saluted us, "Welcome home, sirs!"
Buffy returned her salute, "Thank you, it seems congratulations are in order."
"Sir?"
"Congratulations, Major." I noticed for the first time she had gold oak leaves on her collar points instead of the silver bars of a captain, "I'd venture to guess you're the 101st's CO now?"
Startled and I thought a little chagrinned Tammie nodded, "Yes sir."
"Good," Buffy thought for a moment, "clear out revetments 1 and 3 and get some jeeps over here with tow bars, I want these planes under cover as quick as possible. Get the camouflage netting from stores and get it on them as soon as they are in the revetments. I want at least three good ground crew with a sergeant in charge with the planes at all times, also a guard force around the revetments with at least…" Buffy's voice trailed off and I though she started to blush a little.
After a moment she started up again, "Sorry, Major. Clear the revetments and get the camouflage netting out. I would like it if you would assign at least three good ground crewmen to each plane and also a guard force for the revetments. I'd also like you to launch a CAP, I don't know if the Germans are going to do anything but I know they're going to be really pissed so who knows."
It was another example of why Buffy was such an outstanding leader, she knew her place. The Army may not have known what had happened to us, regardless it had moved on and she was no longer the CO of the 101st. Her rank gave her certain powers, but until it was clear what her position was she could not order the CO of a fighter group around willy-nilly; she didn't know what other responsibilities or conflicting orders or requirements there might be. She could order the revetments cleared and the supplies she required and they would be obeyed unless some overriding issue existed in which case Tammie would tell her. But as far as the utilization and assignment of the 101sts personnel she could only request and recommend, it was Tammie's responsibility to determine how and if she would comply.
Tammie nodded and thought for a moment, "I'll get on it, sir. I'll have Timmons and Markoff as your crew chiefs, they can pick who they want." She turned to Fredericks, "When these planes get in the revetments mount a guard, four men for each revetment with a sergeant in charge, nobody is to get close to the planes except for Sergeants Timmons and Markoff and their men without my or the Colonel's or the Major's permission."
"Yes sir!"
"I'm going to send WO Gunderson with the ground crew to handle moving the planes, he can approach them also."
"Yes sir."
Tammie turned back to us, "I'll get a flight up as soon as we can launch - you're far enough down the runway that they can get off easily."
Buffy nodded, "Good, thank you."
"They'll be light on gas, once the runways clear I'll put up two flights with full loads to replace them and keep another two flights on 5 minute standby on the ground."
"Thank you, Major."
She nodded and then after a moment's hesitation stepped up to Buffy and wrapped her arms around her and picked Buffy up and swung her around. She put the startled Slayer back on her feet but gripped her shoulders and looked into her eyes, "Damn it, Buffy! We thought you were dead."
I saw tears glisten in Buffy's eyes, "It's good to see you too, Tammie."
She let go of Buffy and turned to me and stepped toward me, her arms out. I nodded and she stepped up to me and we hugged, she whispered into my ear, "I'd do the same thing to you but you're too damn big!"
I let her go and smiled at her, "It's good to be back."
She nodded to both of us, "I'm going to get the ball rolling, we can meet in my office when the planes are secure, sir?"
Buffy nodded in agreement, "We'll see you there in a little while, Major."
Tammie walked back to her jeep and climbed into the passenger seat and then gave a quiet order to the driver, the jeep backed up and headed for the headquarters Quonset hut. We watched it as it came to a stop by a cluster of other vehicles; it sat there for a minute and then headed on toward headquarters. A minute later two jeeps pulled out of the cluster, each was loaded with four soldiers. As it got closer I recognized Timmons driving one of the jeeps with Warrant Officer Gunderson in the passenger seat. In the other jeep I could see Markoff driving along with rest of my old ground crew.
As the two jeeps neared us the mounting roar of Merlin engines drew my attention up the runway, a pair of P-51s rose off the runway and seconds later flashed over us, followed thirty seconds later by another pair. As each plane neared us and then passed over I saw them rock their wings in greeting. A minute later the two jeeps pulled up behind the one Lieutenant Fredericks had arrived in, Gunderson, Timmons, Markoff and the rest of the men got out of them and came toward us. They were staring at us in amazement until Timmons broke ranks and stepped up to Buffy and wrapped his arms around her and picked her up and started swinging her around.
"Damn it, Timmons! Put me the fuck down you big ape!" Buffy screeched as she pounded half-heartedly on his back, I knew she wasn't putting her strength into it because she wasn't breaking his ribs.
"Not until the Colonel apologizes!" He yelled in her ear.
"Apologize for what!"
"For losing my perfectly good airplane and bringing back this piece of crap!"
Buffy stopped pounding his back and put her arms on his shoulders and shoved away from him, her strength forcing him to loosen his grip until she could see his face, "I'm sorry about the plane, but she is not a piece of crap! Now put me down, Sergeant."
Timmons set her back on her feet and she glared up at him, he met her gaze, "God it's good to see you Colonel."
Buffy's expression softened and she nodded, "It's good to see you too," she looked around at the cluster of men standing near her, all of them looking at her with a combination of awe and amazement, except for Gunderson who was looking at her gravely. She saw his expression, "Gunderson, you are looking fit."
"Colonel, you're a bit out of uniform." He said as he looked at her in the Luftwaffe uniform, the black jacket adorned with the German eagle and the epaulettes on her shoulders.
"Yeah… well… the exigencies of the service," she said as she walked over to him. She stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself tight against the large, burly man. "With all the damn hugging going on I guess I get to do one of my own."
His massive arms went around her shoulders and held her tight against himself, after a minute he quietly asked, "What the hell have you been up to, Colonel?"
She loosened her grip and moved back a little so she could tilt her head back to look up at him, he rested his hands gently on her shoulders, "Oh, a little of this, a little of that."
He snorted in response and she grinned at him before stepping away from him, she looked at the other men that were clustered around, "It's good to see all of you." She turned back to the First Sergeant, "We need to get these planes under cover - do you think the tow bar will fit on them?"
"Let's check it out."
Gunderson waved Timmons back into one of the jeeps; he swung it out and then started backing it slowly toward the nose of Buffy's plane. When he got close he stopped it and two of the ground crewmen released the bar from its vertical position and then held it horizontal while the jeep backed a little closer. Gunderson, Buffy and I had all walked over to her plane, Gunderson and Buffy crouched down while I looked over their shoulders as the crewmen extended the tow bar toward the front landing gear. The gear did not have a tow ring like our old P-38s had nor would the fitting on the end of the bar fit around the wheel, it wasn't large enough. We towed P-51s by attaching it to the tail wheel and towed them backwards, but it was a much smaller wheel and the fork was not wide enough or deep enough to go around the Me-262's nose wheel. From the looks of the fittings on the nose gear the Germans towed them with something that attached to the protruding ends of the wheel axel. It took the men a couple of minutes to jerry rig an attachment, putting the fork around the strut just below the forward wheel cover and using rope to hold it up and attached to the wheel strut and some rags to cushion it.
While they were working on getting the tow bar attached Markoff walked up beside me, "Welcome back Major, it's good to see you."
I looked at him, "It's good to be back."
"You both look in pretty good shape, sir."
I nodded, "We lucked out, had a pretty easy time of it all things considered."
He nodded; then conspicuously looked at the two German planes we were standing between and then back at me, "And the German's thought you were such cute little girls they just gave you the keys to their hottest toy?"
I smiled up at him, "Well… You know how it is with Buff… the Colonel, she's such a sweet little thing no one wants to hurt her feelings, she just bats her long lashes and they sort of fall over themselves trying to help."
"She's such a sweet little thing she's going to have everyone talking about her in the third person doing guard duty for the next week!" Buffy growled.
There were smothered laughs and smiles from the men standing around, the awkwardness finally seemed to ease some and we were back to the easy camaraderie we'd had before being shot down.
They got the tow bar rigged to their satisfaction and Buffy climbed back up into her plane and released the brakes, she sat in the cockpit as they slowly swung her around and started up the runway, Timmons was walking beside the nose gear making sure nothing shifted while one of the other ground crewmen drove the jeep. I got back in my plane while Gunderson and Markoff rigged the tow; they gave me a wave and I released the brakes. There was a slight jerk as they started us rolling and then it went easy as they swung me around and we started up the runway.
By the time we got to revetment 3 Buffy's plane was already in revetment 1 and the guys were working on getting the camouflage nets spread over the aircraft. Revetments 1 and 3 were the first two revetments north of the headquarters complex, the closest ones to the main buildings and shops. As we turned off the runway and started into revetment 3 the roar of Merlins filled the air; four pairs of P-51s roared down the runway at short intervals and pulled into the clear morning sky. The men were working on getting the camouflage netting over her when Buffy walked into the revetment, the field grey German pack she'd used as a seat cushion slung over her shoulder. "About ready, Barb?"
I nodded, then turned to Markoff, "Be careful around her, the cannons are safed and powered down but they are loaded, I don't know how finicky they are."
Markoff nodded in understanding as he looked up at the nose of the Me-262 and the protruding muzzles of the four large cannons, "I'll keep the men clear, we aren't going to mess with her at all."
Buffy and I walked over to the headquarters hut escorted by Gunderson, neither of us wanted to be out on the base alone in the German uniforms we were wearing. Buffy gave a sharp rap on the door frame of her old office, now Tammie's office, and we went in on Tammie's call, "Come!"
As we came in she rose from behind the desk and came to attention, Buffy nodded and called out, "At ease!"
I sensed movement behind me and saw Warrant Officer Halloran, the group admin officer slip in behind us. Buffy glanced behind her, sensing the same movement, when she recognized Halloran she gave him a sharp nod of acknowledgement before turning back to Tammie, "Seems awfully quiet around here for such a beautiful day for flying?"
'Sir, were in a seven day stand down for training and maintenance. We lost a lot of good people last week and we need to integrate the replacements."
Buffy looked grim, "How many?"
Tammie looked at her and shook her head, "Sir, not that many the way you're thinking. Helen Carson got her oak leaf and she took Edgerton and a half dozen of the more experienced flight leaders along with another half dozen of the element leaders to form the core of a new fighter group, the 143rd. They'll be flying out of a new field a couple of miles from Horncastle."
"Where are they getting enough female pilots for another group and replenish our… your loses?"
Tammie shook her head, "They're coming through the pipeline but it will be the first of the year before we start getting more than those coming through the 796th, but they've promised to double their through put for the next three months."
"How many loses have we had?"
Tammie looked a little embarrassed, "Nineteen since we lost you, plus three severely wounded that won't be back for a long time, if ever, and a half dozen minor wounds. Battle damage has also been pretty bad. It's those damn jets of yours."
I whistled softly, that was about 50% higher than we'd be experiencing in the months before Buffy and I'd been shot down. And that didn't include us so it was even worse. How were they replacing those loses and spinning off a new group, "Where are they getting the pilots?" I asked.
Tammie looked at me, then she leaned back, "we're no longer the '101st Fighter Group, Female, Experimental and Provisional', we're the 101st Fighter Group, as is the 143rd."
Buffy looked truly startled, "What?"
"About a third of the replacement pilots are male now. Oh, and one of your old friends, Ben Franklin, is Helen's XO at the 143rd."
"Ben's her XO?" I asked.
"Yeah, he wanted to come here but General Miller nixed it."
"General Miller?" Buffy asked.
"Oh, sorry, forgot about that. The Colonel got his star and he's in command of the new wing. They've shuffled the groups and it will be the 89th, us, and the 143rd."
Buffy thought for a couple of minutes, then she nodded and looked at Tammie, "I'll repeat what I said an hour ago with even more emphasis, congratulations Major, you've been doing a hell of a job."
Tammie started to blush and then looked steadily at Buffy, "Thank you, sir."
"Sorry to hear about the high loses, but hopefully with the presents we brought home we'll find a way to deal with them a little better."
Tammie nodded, "Anything will help, we've figured out some things but we've got a ways to go."
Buffy was silent for a moment and then said, "Well, I guess it's time to face the music."
"Sir?" Tammie asked.
"Give your Wing Commander a call, it's time we report in and get it over with."
"I'm sure he's going to be happy to hear you're back."
"Oh, I am too. It's just that the brass and intelligence types are going to be grilling us non-stop for months," she glanced over at me, "maybe we should have stayed in the cave through the winter."
Tammie looked quizzically at her and then at me, I shook my head before responding, "It's a long story, Tammie, we'll tell you some other time."
Buffy looked at me, "You'll tell her, by the time we get done reciting it over and over it's going to be one of those stories I'll never want to tell again."
I snorted and turned back to Tammie, "Call the General."
Tammie picked up the telephone on her desk and spoke softly to the operator, after a couple of rings a voice answered, Tammie had the phone canted out so we could hear, "47th Fighter Wing, Headquarters, Sergeant Ackers speaking."
"Seargeant, this is Major Nelson, 101st Fighter Group."
"Yes ma'am."
"I need to speak to the General immediately."
"Uh… I'm sorry ma'am, the General is not available."
"Is he off base?"
"No ma'am… He's in a meeting and is not to be disturbed."
Tammie glanced up at Buffy who shook her head slightly, "Sergeant, I'm afraid you're going to have to disturb him."
The sergeant must have signaled someone because there was a click and another voice spoke, "Major, this is Lieutenant Bryant; I'm the General's aide, sir."
"Good morning Lieutenant, I believe we met a couple of weeks ago."
"Yes ma… sir, at the change of command ceremony. How can I help you?"
"I need to speak to the General, immediately."
"Sir, he's in a meeting with his new chief of staff and a couple others, he ordered us not to disturb him except for the most dire emergency… one that he would consider a dire emergency not just the person wanting to disturb him."
Tammie looked at Buffy and grinned slightly, "Well, while this may not be a dire emergency he will consider it one if he isn't informed immediately, go ahead and disturb him."
There was a ringing on the line and a gruff voice answered, I recognized our old COs voice, "Bryant what's the emergency?"
"Sir, Major Nelson is on the line, she says she has to speak to you immediately."
"Major, this had better be good or you are both in hot water."
"Yes sir, at 0915 this morning two of those new German fighters…"
"The Germans sent those new fighters over here?!"
"Uh… no sir."
"What the hell happened?"
Buffy had leaned over the desk and written something on a pad, she flipped it around and held it up in front of Tammie, "Sir, two German 'Me-262 jet fighters'..."
"What did you just call them?!"
"Me-262 jet fighters."
"Where did that come from?"
"The pilots…"
"WHAT?!"
"Sir, if I may!"
"Sorry Major, go ahead."
Tammie took a breath, "At 0915 this morning two German Me-262 jet fighters landed at our airfield, they were piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Buffy Summers and Major Barbara Thompson."
This time there was no response, the phone was silent; Buffy snorted, "Tammie, you do have a flair for the dramatic."
General Miller's voice came softly over the phone, "Is that Buffy?"
"Yes sir, she and Major Thompson are standing right here."
"Put her on."
Tammie handed the phone to Buffy, "Lieutenant Colonel Buffy Summers speaking sir."
There was silence for several seconds, "Risen from the dead again, Buffy?"
She was startled and blurted out her response, "No sir, I never died this time."
The silence was palpable and I saw Buffy start to blush, finally General Miller responded, "Ah… I see… what happened… short version."
"Yes sir," Buffy thought for a moment, "Major Thompson and I were both shot down at the same time by a couple of Me-262s, she had to parachute and I bellied in. We managed to meet up and get away from the crash sites, the crashes started a decent sized forest fire that covered our tracks. We were up high in the mountains, right at the tree line, and had made a couple of miles when the Major found a cave we could shelter in. We both had some minor injuries, the Major sprained her ankle pretty bad landing and was having difficulty walking and I had some minor shrapnel wounds. We decided to hold up for a couple of days and heal up. Then the weather turned nasty and we got hit by a series of storms, almost constant for the next couple of weeks."
"Yeah, the weather was bad here also, go on."
"By the time the storms cleared we decided it was too late in the season to try to make it out and were going to stay in the cave over the winter. Then the Germans moved in a squadron of Me-262s onto the airfield in the valley that we were overlooking, I'd have to check a map to get our exact location but we were about fifty or sixty miles south or southwest of Munich."
"We observed the Germans for a couple of weeks and noticed that they launched two aircraft every morning right around dawn. Last night we snuck down to the airfield and took out the pilots and took their place. Then we flew home."
"Shades of Halifax, Colonel?"
"Uh, yes sir."
The phone was silent for several minutes, "What condition are you and Major Thompson in?"
"We're fine sir, the injuries healed up a long time ago."
"Major Nelson?"
Tammie spoke loudly so he could hear her, "They both look like they're in good shape, no signs of malnutrition or anything - I'll have Doc check them."
Buffy looked indignant, "Sir, we had plenty to eat, we got a couple deer early on and the cave gave us plenty of shelter; we could have wintered over easily."
There was silence for a couple of moments, "There was an alert sent out by the British this morning, they said it looked like every fighter the German's had in Northern France and the low countries was taking off but nothing ever came of it. Did you two have something to do with it?"
Buffy sniggered, "I don't think they wanted us to keep our new toys sir."
"You were able to avoid them?"
"We got through them… the Me-262 is a hell of a fighter."
"These Me-262s you flew, what condition are they in?"
"They're in perfect condition; we didn't sustain any battle damage. I think we both ran out of fuel just as we landed," I nodded my head in agreement, "so they're dry but other than that they're ready to go. The only question is how much time they have left on the engines, they don't last very long."
"Nobody is to fly them at all, we can't risk losing them."
"Yes sir," both Buffy and Tammie chorused.
He was silent for a moment, "Okay Summers, how long until you can get to 8th Air Force headquarters?"
"It's about a four hour drive but we have been camping out for the last six weeks, we'd like a chance to get cleaned up and into some decent uniforms. I don't want to walk into the 8th dressed like I am."
Tammie sniggered, "She's only a Lieutenant in the Luftwaffe, sir, Major Thompson at least made it to Captain."
Buffy glared at her, "Well they wouldn't have let us go if we'd been in our US Army uniforms!"
There was a loud snort from the phone, "Summers, and you too Thompson, you never cease to amaze me."
"Yes sir."
"Congratulations and good work… I'll contact 8th Air Force and VIIIth Fighter Command; I know there will be a lot of people wanting to talk to you. You get cleaned up and headed down there, I'll tell them to expect you by late this afternoon."
"Yes sir… Are you going to…" Buffy seemed embarrassed and her voice trailed off.
"Yes I'll be there; I wouldn't miss it for the world. Get a move on." There were a couple of clicks and the phone line went dead.
Buffy handed the phone back to Tammie, "Oh, fuck!" Buffy hissed.
"What?" Tammie asked.
"VIIIth Fighter would have been bad enough, but 8th Air Force means we'll have to deal with Spaatz!"
Tammie gave a short shake of her head, "Maybe not, there's been a lot of reorganization going on."
"I've noticed!"
"Spaatz has been bumped up to command the 'Strategic Air Forces', Doolittle is CO of 8th Air Force now."
"Jimmy Doolittle?" I asked.
Tammie nodded, "Yes, Doolittle of the Tokyo raid."
"Yeah, we saw him at that conference in August just before we got the P-51s, but we never spoke to him. How is he?"
Tammie shrugged, "He hasn't made any drastic changes but I haven't dealt with him at all."
Buffy looked over at me, "I've met him a couple of times, back in the early thirties. He and Dad were… I don't think quite friends but they knew each other. He and a couple other Army flyers stayed at the ranch for a couple of days one summer. And I met him a couple other times at air shows and races; he seemed like a pretty good guy."
Buffy shrugged, "Whoever, I'm sure we'll be talking to all of them."
There was a light rap on the door behind us and I saw Corporal Leigh, Buffy's former orderly whispering to Halloran, after a moment he looked up, "The Corporal has put the Colonel's and the Major's gear in an empty quarters in the headquarters Quonset."
I was shocked, "You didn't ship our stuff back home?"
Halloran looked a little embarrassed, "Uh… No sir, we hadn't gotten around to it yet."
Buffy grinned, "Halleluiah! We won't have to wear hand-me-downs! We'd better get a move on."
Tammie nodded in agreement, "I'll get the staff car prepped, you two head over to Doc's clinic and get checked out."
Buffy scowled at her and then nodded, "Yeah, I guess we better let him do the poking and prodding or it'll be some ham handed chancre mechanic at headquarters."
"Corporal, stay with the Colonel and Major Thompson, get them anything they need."
"Yes sir."
Tammie looked at both of us for a moment, "God it's good to see you both alive!"
Buffy and I exchanged a quick glance, "It's good to be alive, and it's good to see all of you."
We took our leave and headed out; as we stepped out onto the steps of the headquarters building we were met by a pretty large crowd, a lot of pilots and ground crew by the uniforms, most of whom I recognized. I noticed half a dozen male pilots in a cluster off to one side, a couple female pilots mixed in with them. As we stepped through the door the crowd was silent for a moment as its attention focused on us and then they started clapping and cheering. We stopped and waited for a minute but it didn't seem to be ending, it seemed to be growing and more people were coming out of other buildings and joining the crowd. Buffy finally raised her hands over her head and made a quiet down gesture, slowly the sound tapered off and then there was a silent crowd looking on expectantly.
Buffy glanced over at me, I whispered to her, "Privilege of rank."
She scowled briefly at me and turned back to the crowd, "Thank you, it's good to be back!"
The crowd roared and she had to wait for them to quiet again, "I don't know what is going to happen to us now but I doubt that we'll be back, at least for a while."
There were some boos and catcalls but they quieted when Buffy raised her hands, "I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, you have been a great team and we've accomplished a hell of a lot!"
More cheers and yells interrupted her, she waited until they quieted, "I know I speak for Major Thompson as well as myself when I say we couldn't have done it without you. And I know you'll support Major Nelson just as you supported me. The 101st is the best Fighter Group in the world and I'm sure you're going to keep it that way!"
The crowd roared and I felt a presence behind me and glanced back to see Tammie standing in the shadow of the door, she saw me looking at her and silently mouthed 'Thank her' and tilted her head toward Buffy. I nodded in understanding as Buffy continued; "Now we have to get out of these uniforms before someone shoots us…"
Somebody with a really big voice shouted back, "Go for it, Colonel!" A cackle of laughter went through the crowd and Buffy reddened.
"I did that once, that will have to be enough for you guys!" There was clapping and wolf whistles but they quieted quickly, "Again, thank-you for all your hard work and support. I'm sure we'll see each other around in the future."
The crowd roared again as Buffy started down the steps and I followed along behind. We made our way through the crowd, they opened a path for us but stayed close, I thought they wanted to reach out and touch her. Buffy acknowledged many of those that she knew the best or had worked with as we made our way through the crowd and over to the base clinic. Doc was waiting for us as we came in, "Morning Colonel, Major Thompson… it's good to see you."
"Good to see you, Doc." Buffy responded, "Would you just sign off whatever needs to be signed off and let us go?"
I shook my head and he grinned at her, "It's not going to be quite that easy, sir."
Buffy stuck her tongue out at him and we followed him down the hall to an examining room. Doc probed and prodded us, listened to our hearts and generally checked us over. I explained to him how we had kept ourselves fed and warm. He checked Buffy's wounds and pronounced them well healed and checked my ankle. Finally he pronounced us in fine form and let us go. Corporal Leigh had disappeared but was back before the Doc was finished with us, he'd gotten some flight coveralls we could slip into so we didn't have to put the German uniforms back on.
As I looked at the pile of clothes we'd been wearing I made up my mind, I took the leather jacket and the Knight's Cross I'd worn. Buffy looked at me questioningly, "I'm going to try to get them sent back."
Buffy nodded in understanding and picked up the black leather jacket she'd worn and handed it to me, "Good idea." The rest of the uniform was just dark blue pants and light blue shirt, nothing of any significance I thought.
I turned to Doc, "You can dispose of the rest of the stuff - the long underwear should probably go straight into the burn barrel.
"We'll take care of it."
"Thanks, Doc."
We followed the Corporal over to one of the barracks Quonset huts that was part of the headquarters group; Buffy's quarters had been there along with mine after I'd given up the squadron. He led us to one of the two man rooms, the bunks were stripped but the mattresses had been unrolled and two duffel bags sat on each bed. I could see my name stenciled on two of the bags, the Corporal looked at us, "Sirs, when I packed up your rooms I put all the clothes in one duffel and the rest of your stuff in the other."
"Thanks, Leigh" Buffy responded.
I went over to my duffel, it was obvious which one held the clothes and I opened it up. Inside were neatly folded clothes, I got out a dress tunic, shirt, tie, slacks and underwear. I started to open the other duffel to get out all the other stuff that went on the uniform when Corporal Leigh spoke up, "Sirs, if you want I'll get your uniforms set up while you're getting cleaned up?"
Buffy smiled at him, "Sounds like a good idea."
I pointed to the two black leather jackets I'd put on the bunk beside me, "Would you find a box big enough for those?"
"Yes sir," he answered, then turned to the door and yelled, "Jones!"
A minute later a young private stepped in, "Corporal?" then he saw us and popped to attention, "Sirs!"
"At ease!" I said.
"Jones, run those uniforms over to the base laundry and have them pressed, I want them back in fifteen minutes!"
"Yes Corporal," he slid into the room and picked up the slacks, shirts, and tunics Buffy and I had put on the bunks, "By your leave, sirs."
"Go for it Jones," Buffy said and he scurried out of the room.
I opened the second duffel and found my bathing kit and was about to get out a towel when Leigh spoke up again, "Major, I got towels for you so you don't have to get your stuff wet."
I looked up at him and saw him pointing over to a pile of towels on the chair by the door, "Thanks, Corporal."
Buffy had her bathing kit in her hand, "Ready Barb?"
I nodded and we headed out of the room, grabbing a couple towels each as we left, and turned down the hallway toward the head at the rear of the hut. We came through the door into the large room with shower stalls across the back wall and trough sinks in the middle of the room. Commodes were down one of the side walls while urinals were down the other. There were a couple of benches between the sinks and the shower stalls.
The room was empty except for one man standing by the sink in his boxer shorts, his face half covered with foam and a razor in his hand. He stared at us in wide eyed surprise, "Morning Captain Sawyer, sleep in a little?" Buffy asked.
Sawyer was the group supply officer, or had been and I assumed he still was, he stared at us for another moment before responding, "Colonel Summers?! Major Thompson?!"
Buffy grinned at him, "Yes, I came back from the dead just to make your life miserable."
After a moment her responded, "Sir, you never made my life miserable!"
"Bullshit!"
Reluctantly he nodded in agreement, "Welcome back sir!"
"Thank you… late night?"
"We got a big shipment in, I had the guys going through it and getting it stowed. Along with all the other stuff it had a lot of parts the mechanics were waiting for and I wanted them distributed so they'd have them when they got to work this morning. We didn't finish until 3AM, I told the men to take the morning off except for Sergeant Adler and one other to man the supply shack. I'm going to relieve them as soon as I finish getting cleaned up."
Buffy had sat down on one of the benches and removed her boots, now she stood and unzipped the coveralls and let them drop, "I never doubted you had a good reason, Captain."
She stepped out of the coveralls and removed her underwear, and then grabbed her soap and shampoo and headed for the showers. I stripped and followed her. We luxuriated under the hot water for a long time, ignoring the signs to conserve hot water and keep showers under five minutes. I finally got out after about half an hour, I'd washed my hair twice and scrubbed myself until I felt squeaky clean. Captain Sawyer had left a couple minutes after we'd gotten into the showers and we'd had the head to ourselves until an orderly came in and started cleaning the commodes about five minutes before.
I dried off and then started trying to deal with my hair. It took me at least five minutes to get the tangles and knots brushed out. Buffy had finally gotten out of the shower and was struggling even more with her hair. She finally got all the snarls and tangles out of it and she brushed it out until it lay smooth and silky around her head. She took a tie and pulled it back into a low pony tail, "You aren't going to put it up?"
"Fuck it, it's going to be a long day and I don't want to have to deal with it constantly. It'll just start to come down and I'll have to fix it."
Normally she wore it up in a bun, the Army had this thing about hair coming over the collar, but her hair was so fine and silky wisps were constantly coming free. I kept my hair pretty short so I didn't have to deal with it, but it had been a long time since I'd had it cut, it had been about due when we were shot down so now it was really long. I didn't try to do anything with it but brush the curls back and tuck them behind my ears, but I knew it was going to be over my collar. "Well, we really haven't had a barber available, have we?"
She grinned at me, "Nope… sort of in a no barber zone."
We spent a final couple of minutes brushing our teeth repeatedly before we wrapped our towels around ourselves and slipped our feet into our boots, grabbed the rest of our stuff and headed back to the barracks room. When we came into the room I saw our uniforms laid out on the bunks, crisply pressed and with all the accoutrements - wings, ribbons, and rank insignia, properly attached to them. The duffels had been repacked, one closed up and laying on its side and the other open and standing on end.
"Sirs, we've repacked your duffels, the open one has most of your clothes and other stuff you'll probably need on a day to day basis and I've left room for your kits. The other has the rest of your stuff from your rooms and offices."
Corporal Leigh and the private, Jones he'd called him but I'd never seen him before, were standing between the bunks. He must be a new man, which was confirmed when Buffy dropped her towel and reached for the pair of panties next to her uniform, his eyes went wide in shock and I thought he might feint. I thought I might distract him, "Private Jones?"
He jerked his eyes off of her and squeaked, "Yes ma'am"
"New to the 101st?"
He gulped, his eyes kept going back to Buffy as she got dressed, "Yes ma'am… second day."
"Private, most of us prefer 'sir', it's probably better to use that."
"Yes ma… sir."
I couldn't put it off any longer and if I started acting embarrassed it would just make matters worse, so I dropped my towel and started getting dressed. "Don't worry private, you'll get used to it quick enough, won't he Leigh?"
"Yes sir, the newbies were being run around all day yesterday, by the time we were done getting them checked in and all the other processing done it was after taps and they crashed. I had Jones up before reveille this morning. He hasn't experienced barracks life yet."
The private tore his eyes from me and looked at Leigh, "What?"
"Half the troops in your squad room are female, get used to it."
Buffy was standing by the mirror hanging on the wall by the door, tying her tie, "What happened to the orientation lecture?"
"They're getting it this afternoon, sir."
"Private?"
"Yes m… sir."
"Just to tide you over, you can look but don't leer, and never ever touch! Understood?"
His face turned red but he managed to answer her, "Yes sir."
I sat on the bunk to put on my shoes when I noticed a cardboard box on the end of the bunk. I opened it and saw the black leather jackets neatly folded and the Knight's Cross sitting on top. "Leigh, is there any writing paper around?"
"We've got some in our supply closet."
"Would you get me some? And a pen? And a marker if you've got one?"
"Yes sir."
He was back a minute later with some stationary, a fountain pen and a black marker. I took the pen and stationary over to the small desk and sat down and thought for a moment, then wrote:
Colonel;
Would you return these to whoever should have them? Sorry, I'm sure you understand the necessities of war.
Major B. Thompson, USAAF
I got up and put the note in the box under the Knight's Cross and then closed the flaps and wrote on the front of the box:
Colonel Adolf Galland
Geschwaderkommodore
Jagdgeschwader 26
I didn't try to seal the box; I knew it would be opened many times before it got to him, if it ever did. Buffy was standing behind me looking over my shoulder, I looked up at her and after a moment she shrugged her shoulders, "I guess we should try to be as civilized as possible despite what we're doing to each other."
I nodded in agreement, "I thought so."
We finished dressing, Leigh stowed our kits in our duffels and closed them up. I picked up the box and Buffy grabbed the German back pack she'd used as a seat cushion, almost empty now, the uniforms that had been in it were in a pile on the floor, not worth saving. We headed out, Leigh and Jones following behind carrying our duffels. Outside a staff car waited, one of the Plymouth P11s we'd acquired that summer. The driver ran around and opened the trunk and Leigh and Jones put the duffels in them while he came and opened the rear door. I'd seen him around before but didn't know his name and had to read it off of the name tag pinned to his shirt, I handed him the box, "You can put this in the trunk along with the rest of our stuff, Sergeant Gravatt."
"Yes sir, I got some lunches for you, sandwiches and chips and a couple of thermoses of coffee."
"Thank you Sergeant, they will be much appreciated."
"Yeah, that's probably better than what I was thinking of." Buffy said.
"What was that, Colonel?"
"Tough sergeant roasted on a spit over an open fire."
I looked back at the Sergeant who was staring open mouthed at Buffy, "She's just kidding, Sergeant."
"Maybe…" Buffy said.
I climbed into the back of the staff car and scooted across the seat. As Buffy climbed in after me I heard Leigh, "Don't worry, Tom, her bark is worse than her bite."
Buffy looked back at them, "How the hell would you know Leigh? I've never bitten you!"
Corporal Leigh looked in at her, "No sir. I'm going to miss you sir, I'm glad you're okay."
Buffy grinned up at him, "I'll be baaack."
The Sergeant closed the door and ran around and got in the driver's seat. Before he started the car he handed a bag and a couple of thermoses back to us.
As we headed out the gate I asked him, "Do you know where the Swiss Embassy is?"
Startled he looked at me through the rearview mirror, "Sir?"
"I need to drop something off there."
"I know where the US embassy is, but I don't know if the Swiss embassy is close to it sir."
Buffy spoke up, "It's a half mile or so." I looked at her questioningly, "It's just down the street from the Swedish embassy; I saw it when I went to that reception there after Ruth was shot down and picked up by that Swedish freighter."
I nodded in understanding, Ruth had been interned by the Swedes, we hadn't been able to get them to release her but she was a lot better off than as a POW. She was living in a hotel in Stockholm and could pretty much do as she wished, but if she violated her parole or tried to get into the US Embassy the Swedes would raise hell and probably throw her in prison. So she was sitting out the rest of the war in comfort, sometimes I envied her.
I turned back to the driver, "Are we going to be close?"
The driver thought for a minute, "We'd have to go into central London, probably add an hour to the trip."
I looked at my watch; it was only eleven o'clock and the General had asked us to be there by late afternoon, we had time, "Okay - stop there on the way."
I saw him look questioningly at Buffy through the rear view mirror, she noticed him and nodded in agreement, "Do it, Sergeant."
"Yes sir."
We sat back and ate our lunch; then curled up in the corners of the back seat, I went to sleep almost immediately. I hadn't slept in over thirty hours; the time Buffy and I had spent in bed the night before hadn't included any sleep. I woke with a start; the Sergeant was stretched over the front seat, his hand shaking my knee, "Major! Where here!"
I looked around groggily, Buffy may have started in the other corner of the seat but now she was lying on the seat, her head in my lap and her face buried in my stomach, her arms wrapped around my waist. I shook her shoulder, "Buffy! Wake up!"
She came awake, I felt her stretch against me and her grip tighten, and then with a start she twisted around and sat up. She looked around and stretched and yawned, then shook herself. She squirmed around until she could see herself in the rear view mirror, "Christ! I'm a mess!" She looked out of the car and saw the crowded London street, "Swiss Embassy?"
"Yes sir," Gravatt said.
She turned and looked at me, "Well, you travel well."
I brushed down my uniform and checked myself in the mirror, other than being a little bleary eyed I was presentable. I grabbed my cap off the shelf behind the seat as the driver got out of the car and opened the door for me. It was weird; the Plymouth was an American car, left hand drive, which meant in England it put the driver's side against the curb. I stepped out of the car and looked around. Across the street I could see a stately building with an ornate entrance, above it flew Switzerland's red flag with a white cross, "Sergeant, open up the trunk."
I followed him back to the trunk and got out the cardboard box. I glanced up and down the street, there wasn't any traffic, and walked swiftly across. Beside the stairs leading up to the main door of the building was a small guard shack; a Swiss soldier was in it and looking at me curiously. I walked up to him, "I'd like to see your military attaché?"
"You can go right in, ma'am," he responded in slightly accented English.
"No, I don't think I should, could you ask him to come out."
He picked up a phone and after a moment spoke a few words, waited for a few moments and started speaking again, it was in German with a strange accent but I could follow most of it. He described me as a 'beautiful American Major with wings and ribbons', after a couple of 'Jawohls' he hung, "He'll be right down, ma'am."
"Danke für Ihre Hilfe," (Thank you for your help) I responded.
He gave me a startled look and his face reddened, "Ah… you speak German."
I nodded, "A little, thank you for the compliment."
"Yes ma'am," he was looking at the ribbons and wings on my chest and then at my name tag, "Are you… are you the famous Major Thompson, the flier?"
Now I could feel myself redden a little, "Uh… well, I suppose so."
His eyes went wide and then grew hard, "But you were shot down and killed over a month ago."
I thought for a moment, maybe this wasn't such a good idea, but then it wasn't like it was some big secret. The Germans certainly knew what we had done, Galland had even known who we were before we'd even gotten out of France. I shrugged my shoulders in resignation, "Shot down maybe, but certainly not killed."
The front door of the embassy opened and a uniformed officer, a Colonel if I had my ranks correct, came down the stairs toward us. I came to attention and raised my hand in salute; he returned my salute as he came up to me. Before either of us could say anything the guard spoke, "Dies ist der beruhmte Major Thompson, der Jagdflieger." (This is the famous Major Thompson, the fighter ace.)
The colonel looked at me for a moment, then clicked his heels and gave me a short quick bow, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Major Thompson. I am Colonel Hans Vonlanthen. How may I assist you?"
"Sir, I was hoping that you might be able to arrange getting this to Germany." I put the box I'd been holding under my left arm on the shelf at the front of the guard shack.
He looked at the box and his eyes widened as he read what I had written on the top, "I did not think you were supposed to be trafficking with the enemy, Major." I saw him glance around; his eyes settled for a moment on the staff car across the street then came back to me.
"There is no contraband; in fact what is in there actually belongs to them."
He gestured toward the box, "May I?"
I nodded, "Of course, sir."
He opened the box and looked at the Knight's Cross sitting on top of the folded black leather jacket, the Luftwaffe eagle and swastika clearly visible. He reached in and touched the folded paper under the Knight's Cross but then glanced at me, I nodded and he took it out, read it, then carefully put it back under the Knight's Cross. He lifted the jacket slightly and saw the second jacket underneath it.
He closed the flaps and looked at me for a moment, "This involves how you returned to England I presume?"
"Yes sir."
"It must be quite a story." I didn't say anything and after a few moments he nodded slightly, "If I may, one question?"
"You may ask it, I don't know if I'll be able to answer it."
"Is the small blonde sitting in your staff car Colonel Summers?"
I looked across the street and saw Buffy looking out at us; again I couldn't think of any real reason to try to keep it a secret, "Yes sir."
He nodded, "I'm sure we'll be reading all about it in the newspapers shortly."
I shrugged, "Some of it at least."
He nodded in agreement; then gestured to the box, "I'll arrange to get this to the Germans, it may take a couple of weeks and I do not know if they will deliver it to the addressee."
"That is as much as I can ask, thank you."
He looked at me speculatively for a moment, "I do not believe you are doing this for yourself but for whomever they belong… belonged to."
I didn't respond to his implied question, "Thank you sir, by your leave?"
He nodded, "Good luck, Major."
I walked back across the street, by the time I got to the car Gravatt had the door opened. I climbed in and sat back in the seat, Buffy turned to me, "He took it I take it."
I nodded as the car pulled away from the curb, "He'll get it to the Germans - whether they'll deliver it is anyone's guess."
