Norma Rogers Ch. 07

He walked over, took my bag, and escorted me out to the small lorry, helping me to climb into the back and following me in. Another man was there, and Andrew introduced him as Gordon the navigator. As soon as we were in, the lorry started up, and drove us to a twin engined plane parked in a u shaped revetment of sandbags. A ground crew under a sergeant was standing by. Gordon and Andrew had inflatable life jackets on, and the sergeant brought out another smaller one and helped me into it, showing me how to inflate it if I needed to.

A ladder led up to a small door in the side, and Andrew went straight up and into the plane. Gordon handed up the bags, and then Andrew told me to come up the ladder. There were four seats in the plane, and an area for bags behind the rear row of seats. He pointed to the rear seat on the left and had me sit down and then he buckled me into the seat. He gave me a radio headset and microphone and showed me how to use it. Then Gordon came up the ladder and took the right front seat, taking out a clipboard with maps on it.

Andrew and Gordon went through a check list, then Andrew opened the window and shouted to the sergeant to remove the wheel chocks. He then started the engines, the roar inside the cockpit was deafening, and the plane was vibrating. Then as it started moving forward, the vibrations smoothed and Andrew turned it toward the end of the runway. After calling the control tower he was given a green flare to take off and we rolled smoothly forward along the runway until it seemed we just floated up into the air. Gordon started cranking on a handle on the side of the aircraft, and in my ears Andy's voice said, "He is just cranking up the wheels, we are going to head north, cross the coast at Blackpool and fly over the Isle of Man into Belfast so that we are over land most of the trip. It looks like it will take about three hours, depending on the winds."

"What kind of plane is this?" I asked.

"The Avro Anson, we use them for trips like this and aircrew training for the bombers."

He continued, "Gordon, would you go off circuit for a few minutes." Gordon pulled his radio plugs from the connection."

"Now Sis, it is just you and I; what the hell is going on? I get taken off my regular duties to ferry an intelligence agent into Ireland, and I find that agent is my kid sister who should be at home with her children."

"Andy, I can understand your questions, but the truth is I can't tell you much. If you weren't my brother I wouldn't tell you anything but I think I can depend on you to keep your mouth closed about it. I have to drive to Dublin to meet an agent whose normal contact was shot, supposedly by an IRA supporter. He is a German officer who went to school in Austria with Jim, and will only talk to either Jim or I. We need some important information that he is probably in a position to give us, hopefully it will help the RAF deal with the rocket attacks."

"Well I hope it is worth risking your life for, what I will do, is borrow some civvies and drive down to the border with you, Gordon can look after the 'kite' till we get back, I'm sure I can fix it with the CO at Aldergrove."

"I'd love to have you with me, and if I can use the phone at Aldergrove, I'm sure I can get an escort from the border to Dublin through my in-laws."

"Have no fear, you will get the phone ok, I couldn't face Jim if anything was to happen to you on my watch."

The air defenses must have known we would be passing over, and after an uneventful flight we arrived at RAF Aldergrove, very close to Belfast. Andrew arranged the phone call, and I called Mhairi, telling her I was driving to Dublin and I needed some help to get from the border to Dublin. We arranged to meet in Newry, about an hour and a half south of Belfast late that evening. Andrew would stay at a hotel there, and Mhairi would drive with me to Dublin, with John following us. They had already reserved a room at the Gresham for several nights. Mhairi was furious with London swearing that she was going to write to Elizabeth, complaining about Intelligence sending out a young mother to make contact with an enemy officer. I settled her down by reminding her that the night Jim and I met, we could just as easily have been killed, as I could by the rockets landing on London now, and that I was working by choice, not being forced.

By the time I had phoned, Andrew had come back with some borrowed civilian clothes on and a small suitcase. A car had been delivered to the office so by 4pm we were on the road to Newry and eventually Dublin. We hadn't eaten a decent meal since breakfast so by the time we reached the White Hart hotel in Newry, where we were to meet Mhairi, we were really hungry, and being so close to the border, enjoyed a good meal of roast beef. Mhairi and John arrived at about 8 pm, and after they had a quick snack, Mhairi and I were on the way to Dublin closely followed by John in their car, while Andrew waited for me at the White Hart. We arrived at the Gresham before midnight, but I was so on edge about the contact, I couldn't sleep. By 7am the next morning I was on the doorstep of the newsagents shop as they opened. I had them place a card in their window and passed over an envelope for the message box with a note to Rudi asking him to contact me at the hotel.

Around midafternoon, Mhairi and I were having a snack in the room, when there was a knock on the door. In the hallway was a page boy, who handed me a note, saying it was from a gentleman in the Lobby, Mhairi and I walked down to the Lobby, and saw Rudi sitting in a chair, luckily he had checked the shop early. We walked into the dining room and he followed us a moment later.

After we had talked a little about things in general, I asked him about his mother and sister. He told us that his mother had been writing to him through an Intelligence address, and Charles had passed the letters to him. They were doing well in Berne, and his sister had been undergoing treatment to help her come to terms a little with what had happened so he was hopeful for them but missed them badly. Then he came to the point, "Why did you need to see me. I think the embassy security officer is getting a little suspicious, and if he hears that we have met, he will be asking questions."

I gave him the letter from Peter, "That will explain it; I take it you know that Charles was shot."

"Yes I know, the one who did the shooting was the SS officer attached to the Embassy, Charles had been asking too many questions around the dock and coast areas, so they tried to get rid of him. As they said, he was asking more than a member of a civilian office should be." He then opened and read the letter, he gave a low whistle. "They really want a lot, I can get it, but it isn't something I can get easy access to. It could be dangerous for me."

Mhairi interrupted, "Rudi, you are Jim's friend. If this puts you at risk, you can always come to us and we will hide you."

"Thank you Mrs. Rogers, I don't think that will be necessary, but if it ever should be, I would be very grateful."

Rudi then left us, telling me he would destroy the letter and have the information for me the next day, so to put in a little time, Mhairi and I did some shopping, just as any woman would do on an occasion in town. Later in the evening, after she returned from Charles's bedside, I finally met Penny, who while not showing a lot, was obviously pregnant, I smiled and pointed. "Charles's daughter?"

"Well I certainly hope so, I'm Penny, and it is so good to meet you, your letters have meant so much to me, seeing how other wives are affected and what they are doing. They have been a real help understanding why Charles isn't with me all the time, how it must be for you with your husband so far away I can't imagine."

"How is Charles doing?"

She was close to tears, "He was really lucky, it could have been so much worse, the bullet hit one of his lungs, but they were able to remove it and the lung is healing. The doctors tell me he will be able to travel in a few days, so I'll be taking him home and if I have anything to do with it, he won't be going anywhere for a while, even if I have to convince him to take over the farm, it is getting beyond his father anyway." We went back to mine and Mhairi's room and the three of us had a chat lasting till around midnight.

Early next morning, there was a rapping at our door. I opened it, and there was Rudi, He was panting hard as if he had been running. "They are on to me; I heard the SS head saying they were going to fly me back to Germany, so I slipped out and ran. I got the information London was asking for though, photographs of all the rocket information that we had." He gave me two rolls of film.

I looked at Mhairi, "What do we do now?"

"Well I meant what I said, Rudi can come to the farm and we will hide him there, but you should call Andrew, he is an officer and might have some ideas. And nobody is going to be checking calls between here and Newry."

I found the number for the White Hart, luckily Andrew was there when I called and he was brought to the phone. "Hi Sis, what's up? Somehow I don't think this is a pleasure call."

I quickly told him what had been happening and he just whistled. "If you leave him at the Rogers farm, all that means is that the SS may take longer to find him but they will still try to kill him. It could also be dangerous for John and Mhairi, their children, and for you and the kids if they really want to make a show of it. It would be much better for him to just disappear?"

"How do we manage that?"

'Hide him in your car so nobody sees him with you; then bring him here to Newry. If he surrenders to me, he becomes my prisoner, and I can fly him back to Biggin Hill, We have your contact meet us and turn Rudi over to him. Nobody in Ireland will have any idea where he is."

"That sounds good, we will talk to Rudi, and in any case we will see you at Newry by afternoon."

"Fine, I'll call Aldergrove and have Gordon get the plane ready. We should be able to take off by 15.00.hours."

I hung up the phone and ordered breakfast for two brought up to the room, trying not to draw attention to Rudi, I thought that we could share the food. Going back to the room I told Rudi what Andrew had said? He agreed that if we could get him out of the country, it would be best and John and Mhairi would be far safer. As far as he knew the embassy staff still believed that he would not be welcomed by the Rogers family. Mhairi went to call John who was staying at another hotel. When she came back she was smiling, "John is going to follow us to make sure that nobody else does. Rudi, we will be leaving from the yard of the hotel, I'm afraid you are going to have to lay in the back seat area and we will cover you with coats and parcels in case anyone is outside watching, that way they will only see two women who have been shopping starting to make their way home. Once we get out of the city you will be able to sit up."

After a rapid breakfast, and even faster packing, we were ready to set out. We took our parcels out through the rear door into the yard, where the car was parked. Rudi slid into the space between the front and back seats, and we covered him with our coats, and piled parcels on top so he couldn't be seen. I got behind the wheel and with Mhairi beside me; I drove out of the yard onto the street. Parked on the opposite side of the street, I could see John in their car with someone beside him. They gave us a couple of hundred yards lead and followed us. I kept my eye on the rear view mirror and nobody got between us.

The trip to Newry was uneventful, after a while Rudi had to sit up, but he kept ducking down if any vehicles passed us. As it was daylight I was able to drive faster and we were at the White Hart in time for lunch. Rudi walked into the hotel with us, I introduced him to Andrew, and he formally surrendered. Andrew asked him for his parole as an officer, he gave it, and we all went in for lunch. Nobody could tell that Rudi was German, he was in civilian clothes, and spoke English well. After lunch Mhairi and John prepared to go home. We hugged each other, and Mhairi whispered. , "I suppose that will be the end of the visits for a while, not as much reason to come over'"

"You can always come to us though; you know the children love to see their Grandma and Granddad. The way the war is going, the rocket attacks should be ending within a few months."

"It will take more than rockets to stop me if I want to see my grandchildren, so we will be over, with Hank gone you need some food parcels from us anyway."

"We just get them from Gloucestershire now, and Hank arranged for us to get coffee delivered to the station as well from the Embassy, it's easy when you know people in high places."

"Well, we'll be over in a couple of months, after the Christmas holidays, bringing the children's gifts. We can't forget them can we now."

"They will love to see you, presents or not."

Rudi was standing by a window, and he gasped, "That car, it is from the Embassy." He pointed out a black Morris 10 travelling toward Belfast. "The driver is an SS security officer and he has another goon with him."

Andrew became excited, as he wrote down the licence quickly he said "And what they don't realize is that they are now in Northern Ireland." He went to the lobby and telephoned the police, telling them that German spies were travelling toward Belfast and telling them the information on the car. Then he, Rudi and I got in the car and followed along the main road. Andrew made Rudi hide in the same place as he had leaving Dublin, and about 20 minutes later we came upon the police and an Army patrol handcuffing the two from the Embassy car.

Andrew spoke, "They will be taken over to London now, as captured enemy spies, and I imagine the interrogation will be long and thorough." Once we were out of sight of the car, Rudi sat up and very shortly we were driving into the Aldergrove RAF station. When we went to the office I was allowed to call the emergency number for Peter Richards, and when I got through to him, we arranged for him to meet us at Biggin Hill to take Rudi to a safe place. Then a driver took us out to the plane.

Gordon had the plane ready to go, and after an uneventful flight we landed at Biggin Hill, it was dark, and the runway was marked with flares, I don't know how Andrew could see but he put the plane down with hardly a bump. He taxied in and we were driven from the revetment to the office, where Richards and the WAAF driver were waiting for us. After introducing Rudi to Richards, we took off our flight suits and went out to the car. Andrew came with us and after handing me into the car, he leaned in, kissed my cheek, and said, "Sis, look after yourself, and much as I like and respect John and Mhairi, I think that you should really avoid travelling to Ireland until after the war is over and the German Embassy is no longer full of Nazis. Now Mr. Richards, if that is your name, it is about time you took your hooks out of my sister, she has done her bit; it is time she got to be the mother she wants to be."

Peter Richards looked at me with surprise in his eyes. "I didn't know the pilot was your brother."

"Neither did I till he came in ready for takeoff. He also spent a little time guarding me. He really had a point, if he and my in laws had not been there for me, I would have been alone with Rudi in a chase with the SS. Now I can't go visit my mother in law without being scared that I will be a German target, that is it, I'm done. You have Rudi and he can't give you much more information, and if I don't hear about military intelligence again, it won't cause me any heartache. It is bad enough being guarded all the time."

"No, you have done enough, we will get you home, that should be the end for you, as your brother says, it would be wise to avoid Ireland until the war with Germany is over, and we will maintain your guard until then. All you will be called on to do is keep on with your ambulance duties. I will look after Rudi now, I will keep him in a safe place until we can get him to Bern to be with his family, but I think he will still be able to advise us on how to look for and push back the rocket bases until they are out of range and England is safe. We will ultimately win, but there could be lots of fighting before that time.

They took me home, and I sighed with relief as I closed my front door behind me. A part, maybe an exciting part of my life was over, now I could return to the more humdrum life of the Ambulance service. Not that it could be really described as humdrum, the rockets were still coming, now more of the V2s which were far more dangerous and frightening, once in a while the RAF could stop one but most got through, but fortunately many were diverted to more country areas by radio emissions deceiving the German Army into aiming them slightly away from London.

Of course we were kept busy transferring service personnel from ship to hospital, many seriously wounded in Italy, India and Burma. We now met the hospital ships as they arrived. The Germans were slowly being pushed back on all fronts and we were hopeful that the war would be over quite soon. Then we found out otherwise when the Germans counterattacked in what came to be known as the Battle Of The Bulge, when the Germans made a concentrated effort to break through the Allied lines and get behind them and capture the port of Antwerp and disrupt the Allied supplies. Fortunately after weeks of heavy fighting, the Allies were able to push the Germans back and resume their advance into Germany.

For us, the battle meant many casualties brought to the Channel ports and taken to the hospitals, so it was a busy period transferring patients. The rocket attacks had lessened as firing sites were captured and others were out of range, though they were still being fired at Antwerp to disrupt supplies.

At the end of April, at a time which should have been extremely happy because of the German defeats, it was obvious that victory in Europe was only days away. Instead of being able to enjoy the feelings of eventual victory, my world crumbled. On April 30th 1945 I had just returned from work, and Clara and I were seated at the kitchen table having a cup of tea. We were talking about what she expected to be doing after the war, what her prospects would be on the police force. The doorbell rang, and Clara went to see who was there, I could hear a muted conversation, then the closing of the door, and the slow footsteps on the tiles. Clara came back into the kitchen to the table and sat opposite me. She had a look of sorrow on her face as she handed me the dreaded yellow telegram envelope. My shaking hands could barely open it and take out the single page which read.

To Mrs. Norma Rogers.

The War Office regrets to inform you that your husband Major James Rogers, Royal Engineers has been listed as Missing In Action. You will be contacted by personnel from this office as soon as possible. Any further information received will be given to you as soon as we can.

I heard a scream and then a deep groaning then I realised the noise was coming from me. I held my arms across my body and began rocking back and forth. The tears were streaming down my face, my heart was breaking, Jim was missing, where were all our plans for the future to go now. Suddenly the children were at my knee, crying because Mummy was. Clara came and hugged me closely, "Norma, the babies are scared, you have to be brave if only for them, I never met Jim but I'm sure that he would want you to be strong if only for them."

Her words penetrated my despair, of course, that was exactly what Jim had said. I sat in an armchair, and lifted the children up to me, one each side of me. With my arms around them I prayed that Jim was safe, after all, the message said Missing in Action, and not that he had been killed. Hopefully somewhere in that green hell of jungle, he was safe. I cuddled the children close, not knowing how I could tell them, and deciding that was a job for the future, when they could understand things easier.