Tommy 1923
by BobbyG

 

Chapter 10

Lee laid on the bed and was pissed off. “We have been back from the bathroom three minutes and you have done fuck all.”  The naked and newly promoted Lee dug the naked and newly promoted Tommy in his ribs. Tommy reacted to this violent attack by whispering, “ow!”

“I am going over in my mind “Kings Regulations for the Army” regarding man sex between officers and lower ranks, like you.” Lee sighed, he was bored.

“Aaaand?”

“Apparently we have three main risk areas if caught engaged in officer and lower rank, like you, in sexual stuff.”

“Liiiike?” Another sigh. Tommy got on his side and propped his head on his right hand and looked down at Lee. Lee took one look at Tommy’s bicep and got hard.

“We either get shot, hung or life in prison. Not much of a choice really, but I would opt for life in prison as I could carry on fucking so long as I stay in the showers all day, and night. HOWEVER my fuck bucket there is some good news. IF we are caught and I am fucking you, that would be seen as officer privilege and only you would be shot, or whatever. Good eh?”

“Tommy, we have got just 48 hours. “Smiffy” gave us this time, it’s a nice hotel, this room is perfect and the only thing wrong with it is you’re in here. I’m going to out and chat up the receptionist.”

“He’s a 100!”

“And more life in him than you have. I know he fancies me, so do SOMETHING or i’m out of here…..Fuck you look good!”

Tommy moved on top of Lee and looked down at him with a huge smile on his face. He lowered his face and kissed Lee for a very long time and as he did he settled onto Lee’s body with his whole weight which he knew Lee loved. After yet another long time kissing and telling Lee he loved him, Tommy raised himself up and with one more smile at his “lower rank,” he began to kiss all the way down the short length of Lee’s torso stopping off at both nipples and causing a minor earthquake as he licked and gently bit both of them. Lee was by now moaning his pleasure and giving Tommy all the encouragement he did not need because he too was wound up like a spring himself. Lee’s belly button was as sensitive as any other part of his body and as Tommy kissed and licked any thoughts of Lee chatting up the receptionist was well and truly forgotten.

Lee put his hands behind his head as though telling Tommy he was surrendering to him which he had done now many times. Tommy had arrived at Lee’s splendid and beautiful man part and just looked at it watching it throb in time with his heartbeat. Tommy licked his balls and then up the whole length of the shaft several times and on the final lick stopped at the head licking and kissing that other sensitive bit. Lee was by now in a very high state of passion and was taking Tommy with him. Tommy moved back to Lee’s mouth and they kissed one another with a great deal of feeling and for both of them the moment had come for Tommy to go to the next level. As they kissed Tommy fed Lee’s massively hard cock to his bum and held it ready for him to sit on it. He did not get the chance as before that happened Lee raised his hips and in he went and did not stop until all of his 6+ inches were fully embedded into Tommy. They stayed like that both loving the sheer wonder of having a cock in a bum and the other having it up there. After some time Tommy began to ride Lee’s cock and so bought them both higher and higher to a summit that they would get to very soon.

One of the many beauties of being like this was each of them could look at the other and every now and again kiss. Tommy had by now wrapped his arms around Lee and with Lee’s around him, it was impossible for them to get any closer. Tommy stopped riding Lee and Lee began the final act as he pumped himself into Tommy and as he did so he abandoned any hope of this going much further and as he approached the end Lee called out the obvious and stopped thrusting into Tommy and let the inevitable happen. His body tensed and as he stared into Tommy’s eyes the first explosion erupted from his massively swollen cock, the shot was huge and so were the other five that followed. His body recoiled as he shot his loads and Tommy felt every one of them as they filled his tunnel to over flowing.

Tommy stayed as he was listening to Lee’s breathing which began to get less deep as he began to recover. He gently kissed him and told Lee of his love. Lee just stared back and the look he gave Tommy said all the words he wanted to convey. Tommy raised himself and Lee’s now deflated rod flopped out. Tommy guided Lee’s hands to his cock and he began to fuck them and knew this would only take seconds and after only half a dozen strokes he shot a cum load that would be envied by many and admired by all. Tommy called out every time he came and the receptionist, who happened to be passing their room at the time, stopped and looked down the front of his trousers. “Remember those days my friend?” He asked his “100” year old cock.

They both looked at this huge deposit and Lee looked from it to Tommy’s face. “Now THAT’S what I call a lake!” Tommy laid down on top of Lee and squashed the lot between their bodies, in a sort of a cum sandwich.

They went down for a meal later after another much needed bath and eat the most wonderful meal since they had been on leave at the Manor. They had bought four tins of corned beef, a large tin of potatoes, two tins of carrots and two of peas. The receptionist, who turned out to be the chef and waiter as well, served up a meal that did much more than the contents of the tins would suggest it could possibly become. Phillippe would not tell them how it was done and all he said was, “One day you English will learn to cook, until then, think herbs.” (well he actually said ‘erbs, but then he was French!) He said something very profound as he was about to leave them.

“You are young and beautiful and I know in love. You will both survive this hell I know. You will not believe me now, but when this is all over and you are trying to learn to cook together, you will think of Phillippe who will be looking down from heaven smiling at both of you.”

Andrew/Cornwallis took one look at them when they got back to the FRU. “Fuck, you look knackered the pair of you, you need a week off, separately!”

 

March 1945

“Happy birthday old man.” It was the 15th and Lee was 23 today. They were in their usual position, Lee in front of Tommy watching a line of surrendering Germans being led away by American troops.

“Thanks young man, you will have to wait another six months before you catch up with me. Tommy, it’s nearly over and when it is we can think about ourselves. We have never talked about that have we?”

“All I know is whatever we do is that you are with me Lee, but it’s not over yet and Phillippe may have got it all wrong. Christ I hope not.”

All the FRU were in Smiffy’s tent listening to him. Of the twenty who had landed nearly a year ago six had been killed and eight wounded, three seriously. They had been replaced and were now up to full strength but also had three more Bren Gun Carriers with twelve men attached to them. Thirty six men in all. The reason for that was they were now patrolling looking for surrendering Germans and so far had bought in a quite a few hundred of them.

“Look, there is a risk that we can all get a bit complacent as they are surrendering in droves, but we also know that there are still a lot of them who will not surrender and the problem is we don’t know where they are and you can bet your ass these are the fanatics, just be even more alert when you go out and for God’s sake keep your heads down.”

They would now go out five miles across the border into Belgium. The jeeps would be ahead of the BGC’s and scout. Two days out and with no contacts Andrew decided to advance another two miles, but for him it turned out a bit of a farce. After meeting with the whole unit and telling them all to be extra vigilant and “watch your step” he turned towards his jeep tripped over and badly strained his left ankle. Of the thirty six men only one wasn’t pissing himself laughing. Andrew got into his jeep helped by his driver still swearing his head off and threatening to shoot “every fucking one of you!” A medic strapped him up and chucked his left boot in the back. “There we are sir, I take it if we have to charge the Kraut’s it will be a very slow one?” Private Armstrong looked at his CO smiling. “It will, but you will be in front Armo, trust me, you WILL be in front.”

The whole FRU had reached the point when they would fan out covering a wider area. Andrew halted them just before the woods either side of them ended. “Just to make matters worse my engine is over heating Tommy, we need to let it cool down and get more water into it.” Andrew limped and Tommy walked forward and looked down into a shallow valley with a river running the length of it. To their left there was a gradual rise from the river and partly covered by trees and islands of bushes dotted around the slope, the wood became a forest at the top and disappeared far into the distance. To their right the ground again sloped gently upwards to their level, but was open and clear of bushes, they could see several farm buildings, but now seemed abandoned. The whole scene looked beautiful and with Tommy’s experience knew this in better days would have cattle and sheep grazing on the fertile land, but he was worried, it was too quiet. He knew very well that there was always movement and the sounds in the countryside, it never stopped. Here there was no noise or movement whatsoever, but the thing that worried him most, there was no sight or sounds of birds. He scanned the scene several times with his binoculars and found nothing on either slopes or around the farm buildings or the wooded area to the left of them. No, the Germans were well hidden inside the buildings and in the woods. There were just two looking out for the enemy and it would not be long before they spotted what could be a forward scouting group and there would be a bigger force behind them. The MG 42’s and the 4man crews were already in place and very well hidden as were the 350 riflemen. Two hundred plus on the left bank and a hundred to the right, they would attack first.

“Andrew, I can’t be certain but I have a bad feeling, this is too quiet. I think we need to get to that wood at least there is cover there and Lee can work on your jeep as well. I will go ahead and take Cpl Blake with me to make sure it’s clear if that’s ok with you.” They scanned the area which seemed clear, but Andrew would take Tommy’s advice. “Fine Tommy, it looks peaceful enough though, but we can’t stay here for much longer and there’s nowhere to go except forward, you will have to organise us now.” Tommy had Lee and Cpl Blake start up and drove down to the wood. After a quick scout around the small wooded area and finding nothing, Tommy signaled back up the slope for Andrew and the rest of them to came down. Five minutes later they had all arrived, Andrew got out of his jeep and limped to a tree and propped himself up against it. Lee and Andrew’s driver began to off load the jerry cans from the bonnet of Andrew’s jeep so they could work on the engine. Tommy spread the four serviceable jeeps so that they covered both sides of the wood. He ordered everyone to man all the Lewis and Bren guns and the riflemen into covering positions. He kept the BGC’s in the centre of the wood to give them more protection and ordered the men to take up defensive positions.

“You expecting visitors sir?” Sergeant Major Phillips asked Tommy.

“Can’t be sure Peter, it’s just a country boy’s feeling, it’s too quiet. Go round the lads and tell them if we are fired on only return if they have a target, we may need to conserve ammo. Oh and tell the Lewis gunners not to blast the fuck out of nothing, same goes for the Bren’s, single shot only unless there are groups to fire at.” Tommy went off to Andrew’s jeep. Lee had removed the water pump and was repairing it. They were by themselves. “How’s it going lover boy?” Lee looked at Tommy and smiled. “Well at least I know what’s wrong. Think I have fixed it, just got to get it back in, lover boy. By the way have I ever told you I love you?” Tommy had a quick look around him and felt it safe enough to kiss Lee. “Never stop telling me Lee, never stop.”

Tommy went to their jeep and got his rifle and ammo pack and went to each side of the wood and peered through the telescopic sight, nothing. He then toured the whole area and was satisfied all the men were in good positions. It was just as well and the bad feelings he had were about to be proven right.

He was at the side of the left bank when the right hand side open fired. Tommy got to them and saw about a hundred Germans running down towards their position. The first thought was it was suicide, they were being cut down by the combined fire from 15 rifles and two Bren guns. Tommy fired as well and then there was massive fire from behind him, they were being attacked from the other side as well. Tommy ran to one of the jeeps and told the Lewis gunner to sweep the ones charging them which did a lot of damage, but Tommy realised this attack must be a decoy and whoever was in charge of the Germans, he assumed, the charge was to lessen the fire coming back at those firing from the left bank.

As ordered the gunners and riflemen only returned on sighted targets and as it went on Tommy was able to count they had at least 5 heavy machine guns and they were pouring fire into the wood and soon one Jeep was hit killing both crew. It was to get worse. Tommy told Peter Philips to stay with the men firing at the advancing enemy on the right. They had now taken to cover and would be much harder to hit, but could be kept pinned down. He bent double and ran towards were Andrew was, but a medic came rushing up to Tommy and heard the words he prayed would never be said. “It’s the captain and Lee sir, they have been hit, its bad sir.” Only the situation stopped him from panicking and went with the Corporal to see how bad it was. Both of them were down, Andrew was hit in the stomach and shoulder and Lee in the head and stomach, there was blood everywhere. By now three medics were attending them, but Tommy could not stay he had to get back to the Lewis gunners. “Do everything you can boys, we will have to get them out as soon as we can.” On his order the Lewis gunners fired on the bushes that he thought where the heavies would be. One fell silent at last and then they concentrated on the other bushes. Tommy took up a position on the right side and found several targets himself and reduced the enemy by at least six, but the barrage to the left kept coming in and one was killed and two more wounded.

This could not go on like this for long. He got to one of the Sergeants and told him to send a plain language message asking for support, but knew they would be miles away. There was some good luck when they saw the enemy on the right bank retreat and went out of sight and Tommy ordered the Bren gunners to go to the other side. He left a Sergeant in charge of the right side and took Peter Phillips with him. “Keep firing at the cover Peter and a look out for the other gun nests, but tell the lads again to conserve ammo, it’s going to be a long fight.”

Tommy looked down at Lee and Andrew. “How are they?” The medic looked at Tommy. “Not good sir, we need to get them out soon otherwise we will lose them.” Tommy took one more look at Lee. “I will get you out Lee, I promise.” And went back to Peter. “Get Lance Corporal Maynard and five men to empty two BGC’s and get them ready to evacuate the wounded. We have to get to those heavies. Go to the Lewis and Bren gunners and tell them to stop firing, riflemen to carry on, I want to find where the machine guns are.” Tommy then went back to the right side. “What’s happening?” Corporal Tanner told him there were a few at the top of the slope. “But they aint moving or firing sir, just waiting up there.” Tommy looked through his telescopic sight and got lucky. Tommy saw the head of one of them looking down through his binoculars, two seconds later he died for his Fuhrer. “I’m going back George, yell like fuck if they attack again, but there can’t be many of them left.” That was not the case on the left though and they came under massive fire and it was only a matter of time before they would take more casualties. Just as he thought that another jeep was hit and caught fire, remarkably no one was killed, but Tommy had to get them away before ammunition and petrol went up.

“Right sir, they have four heavies.” Peter pointed them out to Tommy. He crawled to the edge of the cover and took in the route he would need to get into range with the bazooka. “Peter get two men to fetch the bazooka, six rounds and two side packs, I’m going to try to get to those guns. Who is the best shot we have?”

“You sir.”

“Then it’s you Peter, use my rifle and pick your targets well, you will be in charge when I go. I want the wounded loaded on the BGC’s and as soon as I blow up those guns, get them out of here. When I’m ready open up with everything, but forget to shoot me ok? Are we ok with ammo?”

“The Bren’s have six and about the same for the Lewis’s. Plenty of rifle ammo though and bayonets are fixed.”

“Right, The Bren’s and Lewis’s to stop firing, I’m going to get ready, meanwhile go and check the other side then get back here.”

“Sir.”

Tommy camouflaged himself well and not for the first time thanked the instructors on Salisbury Plain and his commitment to the training. He was going out and try to get Lee, Andrew and the other lads away. He got to him one last time and quickly said goodbye to him. “This is for you Lee, if you go, I hope I do too.” He smiled at Peter Philips, “Your in charge now Peter, just get the lads out as soon as you can.”

He got down on his belly and pushed the bazooka forward and then pulled himself and the two packs of rounds behind him towards the river. He knew he had excellent cover until he got out of the water and up the low back then it would be down to the route he had worked out. As a plan Tommy knew there were holes in it, but even if he managed to survive the German fire, it would take some time to get to his position time and also night was not far off, but the certainty was Andrew, Lee and the other wounded would have no chance unless those guns could be knocked out.

“Fuck that’s cold!” Tommy half smiled to himself as the water soaked into him and for some reason thought about the time he had thrown Lee into the lake and listening to him swearing his head off. Lee he knew would swear again if he knew what he was up too. “Shut up Thompson and fucking live… Please don’t leave me Lee.” He got to the shallow bank and slide over it onto dry land. As he had planned he turned to his right slightly and knew he was still hidden. He looked behind him and although he could not see anyone, he knew Peter would have the binoculars stuck to him. Peter had bought four Bren gunners, two either side of him, at the first sign of enemy action each Bren was trained on where they were fairly sure the heavy guns were, but if they fired without being sure they would waste ammunition and in any case most of it would be needed when Tommy was ready to fire himself.

Tommy had to crawl 150 yards up the slope where he had seen a dip that he could be comparatively safe behind, but getting there also meant he would have to show himself and only stealth and camouflage would stop him having his head blow off. After 100 of those yards he was still going well and so far no one had spotted him, but the next 50 was all open. He hid behind a small mound and took a breather for a few seconds, but knew every minute he gave Lee could make the difference. He moved again.

Slowly but surely he got closer and closer and wondering how the hell he had not been spotted by now. Down below Peter Phillips was near to pooing himself and trying to convince himself Tommy would make it.

“Come on son, you can do it.”

“Pardon Sergeant Major?”

“Not you Private, just fucking concentrate the Lieutenant’s life will depend on us.”

The bullet missed him by inches, which gave him a clue he had been spotted and there was a hell of a lot of shouting coming from above. Tommy was just 10 yards away from his firing point and all he could do was get up, bend as low as he could and hope to make it. Down below Peter saw him getting up. “FIRE!” Four twin Lewis’s and six Bren guns opened up sending a huge barrage up the slope which was the difference between Tommy living and not being shot, but now they knew where he was and it was far from being over. The firing continued from the German’s but Peter ordered his men to stop firing and waited. He watched as Tommy loaded his first round and with a wave from him, Peter ordered them to open fire again.

Tommy had already picked his first target which was the one at the far right and with the covering fire he got into his firing position and sent the first one away. It was perfect and the first machine gun nest was blown apart. Now reloaded he turned to fire at the one to his far left. Machine gun fire was mostly directed at Tommy and Peter ordered all guns to sweep across the target area while the riflemen fired into the machine gun positions. Tommy held his breath, got up and aimed carefully and sent the second round off. He ducked back down and therefore did not realise he had missed the gun position, but there was a massive explosion as his round had found an ammunition bunker and the lot went up taking the gun and the gunners with it. Tommy knew his luck was going to run out any time soon and so decided on another tactic. He had bought his Thompson and four magazines. He loaded the Bazooka and put it down. He fitted a 30 round magazine to the Thompson. The Germans were waiting for him to do the only thing they thought he could do which was to get up and fire straight up the slope at them and therefore exposing himself, but instead he went to the edge of his cover with the Thompson, looked round it, aimed and fired off all 30 rounds, straight into the machine gun nest killing two men and seriously wounding the other two. Down in the wood Peter smiled at what Tommy had done and told his gunners to fire on the last nest that was now well an truly identified as they had given their whereabouts away. Every weapon opened up and hundreds of rounds slammed into it, the nest and all those in it took no further part in this war.

Tommy still had four shells left and no target, but HE certainly was as rifle fire was zipping passed him, but while he stayed as he was he was comparatively safe, but it was a bit of a stalemate. He had no choice, counted to three and with his bazooka ready to fire, got on his knees and fired straight into the woods directly in front of him. Down below Peter ordered his men to fire in the area Tommy had just hit. Tommy reloaded and waved to Peter and as soon as Peter fired, Tommy once again fired into the wood. Two rounds left and Tommy knowing his luck was running out stayed undercover and used the bazooka as a mortar. He raised it 30 degrees and sent the last two shells away. He was done, now what?

He reloaded his Thompson and was about to break cover and run back down the slope when everything went quiet. The silence was deafening. He looked back down at the wood and saw Peter and all the men coming out and then up the slope and roughly counted about 200 Germans standing there with white flags. Everyone stood still and then Tommy heard engine noises. He looked back down and saw two BGC’s and an escorting jeep going hell for leather up the way they had come. Lee was going to safety. Tommy sent his love and then stood up and waited for the senior officer to come towards him.

The officer, who turned out to be a Major, got to Tommy and he collected his second Lugar. “We surrender to you Lieutenant, that’s what we wanted to do long before this stupidity happened. Your last shell killed the three officers that wanted one last chance of glory. I pray not many of your people died, God forgive us but we don’t deserve it, not yet anyway.” Peter bought his men up and took control of the prisoners and were horrified to find 15/16 year olds amongst them and every one of them a total wreck. Tommy spoke to the Major and asked him why they had not open fired before they got to the woods.

“The Colonel thought there was a larger force coming behind you and waited. He knew he had you tied up in the wood and thought you would not be able to get out and just waited for the forces that did not turn up. Lieutenant, may I say you did a magnificent job and my only wish was your last grenade was your first if you understand me?”

“I do and hope none of us has to kill anymore. These boys need to get back home to their parents and become kids again. We need to get out, I have more important things to think about.”

The Germans from the other bank had seen everything and when they saw the officer surrender, they too came down under a white flag. The FRU marched all the prisoners to the nearest collection point and after handing them over went back to their base arriving the next day.

All Tommy was able to concentrate on was finding out what he could about Lee and of course Andrew, but there was no definite information except they had been taken to the nearest field hospital and if they were able to be flown home that’s what would have happened.

Tommy was greeted by Brigadier Smithers when they got back and Tommy congratulated him on his promotion.

“Thanks Tommy. Look I will do my best to find out what’s happened. There is no point in you going to the field hospital or the airfield. I can get all the information from here quicker. Just be patient, Captain.” It did not sink in straight away.

“CAPTAIN Torrent, are you listening?” He wasn’t, all he could think of was about Lee.

“Sorry sir, what did you say?”

“I have just told you, you are now Captain Torrent and before you think about Lee again, congratulations Tommy.” They shook hands and Tommy went back to thinking about Lee.

He was in the officers mess tent and realised it was the first time he had been inside anything associated with being an officer. A number of other officers came up to him to congratulate him on his Captaincy and while talking he was called by an orderly. He raised his hand and the orderly came to him and got the news that both Lee and Andrew had been flown back to England. He had no more information and Tommy was left with the thought that at least they were still alive. All he could do now was hope for both of them, but even Andrew would understand who was at the forefront of his mind. He wondered how he could get news to Edward.

He stood for some time outside the chapel tent not sure about going in after all he was not exactly a regular church goer and it seemed a bit hypocritical thinking of praying now and only because it was all about Lee.

“I bet you don’t come here that much Captain.” Tommy looked round and saw a very handsome young lieutenant Padre.

“No, I don’t, do you?” They both smiled at that.

“It’s my office and happens to be one I love. Have you a friend in trouble may I ask?”

“Yes, can I go in?”

“Course you can. Do you want me to come in with you? Don’t worry I won’t ask you to pray or any of that shit.” Tommy could not help himself and laughed out loud.

“There, I’m bloody brilliant, got you laughing already. What’s his name?” They were sitting just in front of the little alter and despite himself Tommy felt a lot better.

“Its Lee and my CO, they got badly wounded two days ago. I know they have been flown home, but God knows if they are still alive and if they are, God knows where they have taken them.”

“You said God twice in that sentence Tommy. You will be joining up soon at that rate. Look, there is nothing I can say or do that will help in any way that will be of much use to you right now, but if you don’t mind I will include them in my prayers alongside the many that are in his situation and those beyond all earthy help. Tommy, you are not alone and we can draw some comfort in that we can at least try to support one another and, dare I say, pray for those we either grieve or want to find alive?”

“Thanks Padre, could you say two for Lee please he is my…”

“Of course Tommy, of course I will.”

Even with the worry he had about Lee, there was a lighter side. The newly promoted Captain was in his tent the next day when he became aware of people running around shouting out orders and other people running around carrying them out. He peered out of his tent to see a staff car draw up and Field Marshall Montgomery step out with lots of brass with him. He just smiled and went back to thinking about Lee.

“Captain Torrent, you are needed in Headquarters sir.” Tommy put his cap on and did as he was asked, he was shown into Smiffy’s tent and stood staring at the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, no less. He just remembered to salute. He was introduced to Monty by “Smiffy” as the FRU commander.

“I have been hearing a lot of good things about you Captain and your men. Well done to you all.” Tommy was about to put things right, but when Monty was in full flow, nobody interrupted. “I am so very proud to lead such a good set of chaps like you and many thousands of other good men. It makes me proud to be British.” He stepped forward and held his hand out. “It gives me great pleasure to say this. Congratulations Major Torrent!” Monty handed Tommy his two crowns that would replace his Captain’s pips which had been on his shoulder straps for less than a day! Tommy glanced at Smiffy who was busting to stay in control of himself. Tommy thanked Monty and guessing right his moment was at an end and he had to fuck off, he saluted and left. Later after the great man had gone Smiffy caught up with Tommy and there was more hand shaking.

“Do you know sir, if the Prime minister comes tomorrow and Ike comes the next day, I could out rank you!?” It was good to laugh. Smiffy had not finished with Tommy though.

“Tommy I have recommended to Monty that he considers you for the Victoria Cross, I really don’t think you know just what you did on that day.”

“All I was doing was trying to get Lee away sir, oh and Andrew and the others of course.”

“Of course Tommy, of course.”

A month went by and still no news about Lee or Andrew and apart from taking out his men to help round up surrendering Germans there was now very little to do and they were back at HQ when the news came through that it was all over, Germany had surrendered. Hitler had carried out his last glorious act as leader of his “Master Race” and shot himself. That bullet turned up six years too late.

“Major Torrent sir?” An orderly called out. Tommy was sitting in the officer’s mess celebrating the news of the surrender. A huge burden had been lifted from every shoulder. They were going home and everyone there just pleased they had come through it all, so many thousands hadn’t. He raised his arm and waited for the orderly to come over to him.

“Sir, you are to report to the airfield tomorrow 09.00.” He was going home and NOW he would be free to try to find his “other rank.” The orderly had not finished, “The Brigadier wants to see you now sir.” Tommy got up and left the group he had been sitting with, one of which was the Company’s second in command, Lt Col. Manning. “You are about to be so very embarrassed Tommy.” Tommy looked at him and wondered what the hell he was on about. After he left Manning spoke to the rest of the group. Two of them got up and went to the store tent.

“So your off tomorrow Tommy, I sincerely hope you find Lee and Andrew and both recovering. Tommy, we are all pleased this war has ended of course, but I just want to say I have met so many wonderful people and it’s been a privilege knowing each and all of you and thank you and Lee for your work.” They stood facing one another and shook hands. “I shall miss all of you sir and may I thank you as well, a good unit can only be that with a good man at the top.” Tommy stood back a step and saluted his Commanding Officer. He turned and got to the flap in the tent. “Tommy, one more thing. This is yours.” Tommy turned back and looked into Smiffy’s outstretched hand, in it he saw the purple ribbon of the Victoria Cross with the miniature bronze cross in the centre. Tommy remembered Smiffy saying he had recommended him and forgot all about it, he was too preoccupied thinking and worrying about Lee.

“Fucking well done Tommy. I am so bloody proud of you, we all are.” Tommy took the ribbon and the hand of the Brigadier. “I would give it back if it meant Lee is safe sir, if I was any good it was because of Lee, we were such a good team.” He dared not say anymore, but Smiffy was no fool and was sure he knew exactly what Tommy meant. “Get that sewn on Tommy and then report to the officers mess tent please.”

It was quite a celebration although Tommy managed to control the drinks being offered and by the end of the evening it had become more of a celebration of surviving the war and all of them going home. Tommy drank quite a lot, but no amount of it would get him pissed, he was going home and shit scared he would find that Lee had not made it, but he didn’t even know where the hell the little man was.

There was one more surprise for Tommy when he went to the men to say goodbye and thank them and wish them good luck. Peter Phillips shook Tommy’s hand and handed Tommy a baton that the boys had made for him. It was a 18 inch highly polished plain oak staff with a brass base and head, it was inscribed around the barrel “Maj Tommy Torrent VC MC.” On the crown was the Regimental badge of a fox’s head looking straight ahead. “Thanks everyone, thank you very much.” He went to them all and shook their hands and turned to leave, but stopped. “We were just a few of thousands, but with lads like you, Hitler had no fucking chance.”

It was with very mixed feelings he boarded the DC3 and left a worn torn Europe behind and would soon land in a war torn England. As he settled into his seat he glanced at his chest and looked at the two ribbons, the white/purple/white of the Military Cross next to the purple of the Victoria Cross. That purple ribbon would open doors for him, including the DC3’s door!

“Major Torrent!?”

“Here.”

“Sorry sir, you may have to wait until tomorrow. We just don’t have enough aircraft.” The sergeant in charge of dispatching was pulling his hair out, everyone was claiming priority. Tommy just sat down more than prepared to wait his turn. He took his greatcoat off as it was so warm in the departure hut and lounged in his seat. The sergeant happened to be passing and saw the ribbon.

“Major Torrent.” He whispered.

“Yes?” Tommy whispered back.

“Boarding now sir.” He looked at the smiling sergeant who was still looking at the ribbon and realised why he was suddenly on the plane. “Thanks sergeant, thanks very much.” Tommy made up his mind that even if he was freezing his bollocks off he would keep his coat over his arm! He had no idea how, but this ribbon could open other doors to help him find Lee.

 

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