Letters from abroad
Gwen received all of Trent's letters vis his grieving Parents in August 1944.
Reading one per week kept her heart beating for at least another month, then in the heat of Summer in Ontario a new Soldier arrived and By that time the convalescent home was packed with wounded and shell-shocked soldiers. Gwen recognised this new Corporal but only because he was drafted at the same time as Trent.
She wanted to talk to this tall dark haired male with a very sour and angry personality but she felt immense sorrow for the 20 year old which she assumed he was . His arms were broken, his legs were bruised and bloody but the damage had been done by shrapnel cutting into his artery. He would have died if it wasn't for the amazing field medics and frontline nurses in France who drained and stitched the wound up. Despite the overall recovery, The now Corporal D Tyron was in mental fatigue. Unlike the first World war where Shell shock was coined from Soldiers in shock from the horrors of trench warfare and the harrowing sounds of the shells exploding around them, and often these poor men were Court Marshalled and shot in the second world war, Psychiatry and medicine had advanced a little bit and strong sedatives and barbiturates along with convalescence was the remedy used. Some men did not return to battle and for Duncan, his body battered and mind bleeding from the inside with the screams of the dead and dying ruminate in his mind seeping through his conscious so he lay awake in one of the many beds at night yelling, calling, pleading for sweet repose from this nightmare he is forever encased in.
It was not until The Dr who then instructed each nurse how, injects a fast acting sedative barbiturate into the young mans bloodstream that he stops yelling, his heart beat slows and his eye lids close
The Dr asked him a few questions while he was in this twilight state of lucid dreaming.
"She's fine she told me" Duncan murmured
Dr Sterecra Asked with Gwen standing attentively by his side. "She is fine?"
"My Wife Courtney, a bluebird they call her"
"Singapore" "Courtney Courtney she...no she didn't leave Singapore" he started breathing harder again. Gwen clasped gis hand while Dr Noah Sterecra wrote down with a pen, the conversation under the administered amount of sodium benzoate and Valium.
"Stay with him and chart his Sedation every four to six hours" he said.
"Yes Dr" Gwen replied. She was able to push her past few months of sadness and mourning to the back burner as she focused on this poor man with a ravaged soul and fractured heart, broken by the realisation that Singapore had fallen under the Japanese Army and Courtney was trapped there alongside his friend Geoffrey Algolen. As Gwen tended to Duncan, washing his face, bringing him hot and cold drinks aswell as administering the right amount of barbiturates, she was able to find out the tragic circumstances that were sifted out and made public by brave journalists and fighter pilots who survived their assault on the Pacific Oceans islands where many were fighting.
"Courtney was supposed to meet me when I had leave" Duncan sighed holding a tin mug of hot chocolate.
He shook his head and curled his lip
"Three years have passed" he hissed.
"THREE"
Gwen's eyes filled with tears.
Holding his hand the dark haired nurse explained how she found out why she only received one letter from her Fiance when in reality there were six.
"His Parents had them" "I wasn't his Wife so they withheld them" she choked back tears.
Duncan found that very cruel.
"Thats just awful" he looked at her with deep green eyes that melted with hers.
"Yes it is, well it was" she looked to the floor.
"I wasn't even invited to the funeral" she tried to hold back tears but found herself weeping in the Soldiers arms.
"Oh goodness Im so sorry" "that was dreadfully inappropriate of me" she pulled away.
Duncan said nothing he just pulled Gwen close to him again while the lights went out
"Do you know how long it's been since I've held a Woman in my arms?" he softly said
"My Mother, my sister and now I'll never hold Courtney ..." Gwen heard his weeping. For they both knew her likelihood of survival this gar into The conflict was rare at best. Given the fact There were no letters not a single one since that first and last letter he received mailed out from Singapore in December 1940.
Courtneys letter
Dear Duncan
Beloved Husband. I long for you to get this letter, for it will be a tedious wait until I get a response from you. Please tell me you are in good health and high spirits in France. I know that Dunkirk must be a frightful place to be but keep me in your heart and the thoughts of our life together before we departed and the train whistle blew. I felt the most saddened when your eyes glanced at me one last time and you boarded the train. I hold hope for our reunion, a sweet and beautiful embrace it shall be even if only briefly. For Im sure while I ride out these waves on this ocean of uncertainty in a ship of fellow nurses ready to serve their men and whoever we need to for charity has no limit and the heart is richer than the flesh of anyman. I know the weather shall be constantly warm in Singapore which a few of us are looking most forward to. While no battles rage we can concentrate on convalescence and the manu misplaced people, Women and Children. I have yet to meet a weary child who doesn't smile through his tears when offered a sweet or Hershey bar. Nursing is the perfect training for Motherhood and I know how much you desire a Son of your own. May your Christmas' be lighter than expected Until we meet again Sweet Husband, I await your response. Forever yours.
Courtney xoxo
1944
While Duncan found solace in a grieving Fiance of Pt Cooper, Courtney lay starving, her lips cracked and sore, her body beaten and ravaged by disease and sores. There were limited amounts of antiseptic creams and topical ointments plus penicillin as it was confiscated by the Japanese but The Red Cross nurses had acquired some through any means necessary meaning sexual favours for creams and medicine. This only worked for a short time and if you were a female the Guards liked the look of.
Surrounded by starving children and sux pregnant women on the verge of death merely days after being starved and beaten, Courtney and three other nurses made the decision and offered themselves to The soldiers as they had been told prior to entering the gates of hell as they named it that certain medical supplies may be exchanged for female favours.
So Courtney found herself separated from the males including a very funny daring and brave redhead she had fallen for in their brief time together. Scott Len or Pt Len was in the mens Part of the camp but any interaction between the two would be a slow and painful death under the blistering sun. When she let the Kempetei have their wicked way with her body, Courtney imagined Scott embracing her curves and giving himself to her in full.
At first The Brunette nurse was plagued with guilt for leaving Duncan to fight alone, unable to tell him by telegram what had happened. By the time she had fallen in love, Singapore was in flames and Courtney was holding onto Scott who had several unknown children with him frightened and scared. Courtney's job as a nurse for the Red Cross was to protect and serve all.
So with the aide of her redheaded beau whom she kissed passionately between the explosions and ashes, she fled, Geoff followed with Harold until they were all stopped and geld at Gun point despite the men having a weapon they were outnumbered.
The eight Japanese soldiers seized Courtney and threw her onto a truck with other nurses, bleeding and bruised. Children were thrown on like luggage. Scott went to save Courtney but was shot at and fell to the ground in agony His kneecaps had been blasted . Courtney screamed. Harold and Geoff surrendered and the Imperial Army laughed for nothing was more cowardly than surrendering to the Japanese Army.
Courtney lay after two years in a camp of straw and bamboo
No soap no clean water, no hot food no shampoo
regular beatings and naked inspections
Children with headlice and severe infections
all bodies ravaged by disease and beri beri
By Christmas 1944 the mood was no more merry
The nurse had seen too much
She bore too much
felt the back end of a hard rifle gun
Shed remembered the rain, Scott kissing away the pain
in her dreams she would see him again
TBC
The next Chapter is titled Letters
Trent's six letters
Bridgettes letters to Geoff that after three years get redirected and have her frightened
On leave in 1942 she meets up with old friends and celebrates with them over some wonderful news. However she then finds out about the invasion and Tyler informs her of his risky escape from The East. No one had heard from Geoff or Courtney, Scott or Harold since the fall of Singapore on January 31st 1942.
little did they know, aside from Tyler who heard rumors from when he was serving over there that the allies including nurses and innocent families living there were hearded into trucks or marched on foot to Changi Camp run by the Kempo a vicious Gestapo style of Guard in struct filthy harsh violent conditions.
Will Geoff survive?