How Far Would You Go For Your Country?- Chapter 1
Norfolk, England. June 28th, 1944
"Links! Links! Links" The German pilot screamed angrily through the headphones.
Lily quickly scribbled "Left! Left! Left!" onto her pad before he had a chance to bark out any more words. Silence. She placed her pen firmly between her fingers and used her hands to press the headphones into her ear, fearful of missing a single word. A hand on her shoulder made her jump in her chair. Removing the headphones, she turned round.
"Shift swap," Rose Parks, a tall, bespectacled girl with a sheepish grin smiled at her, then furrowed her brow in concern. "God, are you alright?"
"Sorry, yes," Lily reassured her, standing up and handing her the earphones. "I just got too into it there."
"All in a day's work," Rose chuckled, sitting down in the vacated chair. "Go on, then. Go get some sleep. You'll be back here before you know it."
Knowing this was true, Lily made her way up the several flights of stairs that led to the outside. Opening the door, she was immediately caught up in a gust of wind. She didn't mind. Quite the opposite actually. Six hours cooped up in that basement room had left her gasping for fresh air as it always did. Hearing the sound of planes overhead, she looked up at them. If only, she thought longingly. Taking a deep breath, she leaned against the wall and reached into her pocket, pulling out a near-empty pack of cigarettes. She lit one and closed her eyes as she blissfully inhaled.
"Sergeant Stone?" A voice asked, startling her.
She opened her eyes, looking into the face of a girl no more than nineteen years old. Lily couldn't place her face. A new recruit, likely. "Yes."
"You're wanted at HQ," The girl told her. "There's a man."
"A man?" She repeated, confused. "What man?"
"I don't know just…a man," The girl said, sounding stressed. "He came in this morning and is talking to a few girls. Your name was next on the list."
"Okay," Lily said, continuing to smoke.
The girl lingered, balancing nervously on the balls of her feet and indicating to the cigarette. "It's um…it's urgent."
"Fine," she sighed, stubbing it out on the wall and putting it back in the pack. Certain things were hard to come by during the war as and when you needed them.
Lily let the girl lead her over to HQ and up the winding steps to an office she'd never been into before. Three or four girls sat outside on chairs.
"He said just to send you right on in," she told Lily, knocking on the door.
"Come in," A voice boomed from inside.
She opened the door, utterly confused by all of this. A balding man in military uniform bearing Captain insignia sat behind the desk, not looking up at her but, instead, his eyes pored over a file placed on the desk in front of him.
"I…I was sent for," She said, nervously.
"He finally looked up at her, indicating for her to take a seat. "Ah, yes. Please have a seat. My name is Captain Walters and I'm with the Special Operations Executive."
She sat down. She'd never heard of the Unit he claimed to be from. She wouldn't dare ask him to explain, however, what with his rank. She presumed he'd reveal all to her in due course.
"Right, well," He said, looking at the file again. "Sergeant Stone with the Women's Auxiliary Air Force?"
"That's correct, Sir" She confirmed.
"And you are a German linguist, yes?" He asked, reading from the file again.
"That's correct, Sir. I listen into and interpret the German Pilots," She informed him, although surely that had to be noted on whatever file he was looking at.
"Yes, I see that," He nodded. "I see here that you also speak French as well."
"Yes,"
"How did you acquire your linguistic skills?" He asked curiously.
"Well Sir, I lived in Germany until I was 16 years old. My father was a diplomat. I grew up with both English and German. As for French, I've had private tutelage since I was 7," She explained.
"Okay. Would you say your fluency is…," He asked, indicating that he wanted an answer.
"Next to perfect," She told him honestly. She wasn't being cocky or blowing her own trumpet…it was just fact.
"Excellent. Obviously this can be tested at a later date but from what I hear there's nothing to worry about," He gave her a small smile. She returned a half one, still too confused to give any other response.
"You've been with the Women's Auxiliary Air Force for three years now," He stated, reading from the file.
"That's right,"
"A difficult Unit to join," He observed.
"Well, everyone was drafted," She reasoned.
"But I see here that you joined up before the draft," He said, cocking his head to one side.
"Well, yes," She nodded. "I suppose I just wanted to help out with the war effort. I couldn't sit home and do nothing."
"That's what we like to hear," He said, shifting in his chair. "And…do you feel that you've made a difference? What I mean is, how do you feel about your position within the WAAF?"
"I'm happy to be helping, Sir," She said, unconvincingly.
"Be honest,"
"Well, if I may be honest, as you say," She began. "I don't really feel like I'm making much difference anymore since there hasn't been as much air activity as there was a few years ago. Really, I've been hoping to be transferred to the Women's Royal Air Force."
"You want to pilot a plane?" He asked, a little condescendingly.
"Well yes," she nodded. "I've been here three years now and they've begun to allow female pilots and…"
"I suppose it's possible," He said, nodding. "There is a very good chance that you'll get to transfer. It would be a lot of hard work though, piloting a plane of your own."
"I'd do it for my country, Sir," She said, really believing it. "My country and the war effort."
"It's interesting that you say that, Sergeant. Can I ask you something?" He asked, leaning forward in his chair to look at her square in the eyes. "How far would you be willing to go for your country?"
"I'm not sure I understand, Sir," She replied.
"Is there a limit to what you'd be willing to do for your country?" He repeated.
She thought for a second. "Well, I suppose not, Sir. I want to be a Pilot, which is a job that comes with a death risk."
"You know that, with your skills, you could prove to be a very useful in the SOE," He said, trying to guage my her reaction.
"My linguistic skills?"
"Yes, those, but also those which you have acquired through this job itself," he explained. "It's a job that requires you to be patient, vigilant, stealthy and thorough. Collectively, those are skills we need."
"Need for what, Sir?" She asked politely.
"Espionage," He said simply.
Her stomach flipped. Espionage?
"Yes, Espionage," He repeated, as though reading her thoughts. "What are your reactions to that?"
"I'm a little confused, Sir," she was honest with him. "Are you saying you want me to be a spy?"
"Of sorts," He nodded. "Part of what we do at SOE is install undercover agents into occupied territory. A lot of what we require them to do is radio-based, setting up radio links and the like. But, yes, another part of it is keeping an ear to the ground and supplying us with information."
"I see," She looked at the ground.
"As I'm sure you can imagine, it's a very dangerous and daring mission, but wars are won through such endeavours. Thus, we have a lengthy selection process to find candidates that we think would be best-able to do the job and make a safe return. "
"And you think that I…" She began but stopped, her mind racing.
"We've been watching several people for a while and, yes, you are one of them. Women make ideal candidates- they're less likely to be suspected and have certain wiles that make people talk" He told her matter-of-factly.
Although shocked, she couldn't disguise the instant feeling of pride that swept through her body, her face breaking into a grin.
"But with the death risk, it's not a decision to be taken lightly," He said, noticing this and making her come back to earth.
"I see, " She said, pondering what he was saying. "Is there a specific mission that you had in mind, Sir?"
"We have several positions we're looking to fill at the moment. One that we've considered you for is in France in an area with nearby German occupation. You would need to be passable as a native who could speak German so, if you choose to accept, there would be further testing and training before you would be placed in any such territory," He explained.
Her eyes glowed. Perhaps at the stage she was caught up in the glitz of the idea, but the alarm bells reminding her how dangerous it would be had already starting ringing in her ears like air-raid sirens. She began to pale slightly.
"It's not a decision to be entered into lightly," He said, standing up and indicating for her to do the same. "I would urge that you sleep on it and get back to me in the morning."
"O-Okay Sir," She said, her voice croaking a little.
He walked her over to the door. "Very well. I urge you to really think it over. Confidence in the task is what would really get you through a thing like that so if you don't think you're up to it, let us know sooner rather than later but, what I will say is, you're looking for a chance to help the war effort…here's a definite chance to."
"I understand that, Sir," She nodded, smiling at him.
She went to leave the room but he called her back.
"Sergeant?"
"Yes, Sir?"
"I don't think I need to warn you to keep silent about anything that has been spoken about in this room today," He said, looking at her warningly. "You know the phrase about Loose Lips…"
"Yes, Sir," She nodded. "I know that phrase. It's not a problem, Sir."
………………………..
Going back to her dormitory, she knew that she should have been getting some vital sleep before her next shift began in a few hours but, not for lack of trying, she couldn't force her body into a slumber. A million thoughts raced through her head. It was dangerous and potentially suicidal. There was a chance she'd never get to see her beloved family again. Would never get to experience life in peace after the war. Well, that's if the war ever ended. She knew she couldn't stop the war single-handedly, that would be a stupid thought. But if what the Captain said was true, that what the SOE agents on missions were able to supply crucial information then what a help to the effort it would surely be.
She tossed and turned even more as fresh thoughts came into her head. Let's face it, on paper it sounded so exciting and like a real adventure…and the young, care-free, excitement-hungry woman that she was, who'd been holed up in a basement room listening in on and writing down every word of both irate and nervous German Pilots thought it sounded like a real rush.
Eventually she fell into a light sleep and by the time she'd woken up…she had her answer.
……………………..
"Captain?" She asked, poking her head around the same door as before, unsure as to whether he'd even be there again.
Luckily he was. He looked up as he called out her name. "Come in, come in."
She sat down opposite him as before.
"Well…," He asked, wanting an answer.
"I'll do it, Sir," She said, taking a deep breath before she said it.
"Wonderful," He said, taking out a sheet within a folder and seemingly ticking her name off of a list. "There will be training and a briefing in London in a month and…"
"I just have one request," She said, holding up a hand, knowing she was speaking a bit too demandingly to a Captain.
"A request?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I want to go home first," She said, biting her lip. "If you could perhaps arrange a few weeks of leave for me to go home and see my family. If there's a chance I'll pay for this mission with my life…I'd quite like to see them one last time."
His face didn't soften. He'd clearly had this request several times before. "That won't be a problem."
"Thank you, Sir," She sighed, relieved.
"However," He said, his face hardening ever so slightly. "I have to tell you that you would be followed."
"Followed?" She repeated.
"Observed, if you will," He explained. "We'd have to send someone to shadow you, just to ensure that you don't spread the word about what we've talked about. It's not that we don't trust you, but it's early days and it's simply a standard precaution."
"Like a babysitter?" She asked, amused.
"Not exactly. You probably won't even notice they're there," He explained.
"Well that's not a problem, Sir," She said, noticing the time on the big clock behind him and standing up. "I'm afraid I'd better get to work, Sir. My next shift starts in five minutes."
"Well soon you won't have to worry about shifts," He smiled at her as he walked her to the door. "Out of curiosity, Sergeant…where is home for you, exactly?"
"Aldbourne," I told him fondly, quietly clicking the door shut behind me as I left.