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again. Down, down, down it went. The wheels touched
the ground, the C-47 bounced and had Cherry and
Bunce not been strapped in, they would have been vi-
olently thrown. The plane skidded to a stop.
All out! Cherry cried. She and Bunce ran to open
the doors.
The haggard face of an Army doctor peered in. Be-
hind him, men on the field came running to the ambu-
lance plane, crowding around.
Hello, anybody home? called the doctor in stained
khaki. I m Major Wright.
Lieutenant Ames, sir! Sergeant Smith.
FI RST MI SSI ON 99
I certainly am glad to see you! You ll have to work
fast.
Cherry and Bunce reached for outlifted hands and
jumped to the ground. She heard one man exclaim, A
woman!
No nurses here, Major?
No, Lieutenant. Wish there were. We could use a
few. But this is a holding station.
Cherry knew then that they were close to the front,
as nurses stayed at least four miles back of the fight-
ing. There was a sudden burst of artillery fire right in
back of them, then more and more pounding away.
They were not just close to the fighting front, Cherry
thought, they were virtually in the middle of the battle-
field! There was an urgent ring in the Major s voice. We
don t dare keep the wounded lying in a holding station
more than half an hour. This place can be strafed any
minute.
A captain came running up, with Wade behind him.
He was the Evacuation Officer, who found the sites for
the holding stations. Then the troops set down some
kind of air strip.
This working out all right with you, Lieutenant? the
Captain asked.
Fine, fine, Cherry said and hurried after the Major.
He led her into a tent, fixed up like a rough field hospi-
tal, for temporary care. Here, on litters on the ground,
lay the pitiful men she had come for.
100 CHERRY AMES, FLI GHT NURSE
The Major briefly pointed out each casualty to
Cherry and her technician. A stomach wound a head
wound a back injury some men were more seri-
ously wounded. Among the eighteen wounded men
they would take, only six absolutely helpless cases could
go no nurse could handle more.
Sergeant, round up the loaders and you get back in
the plane, Cherry directed.
The Major interrupted. Wait, son. We have only two
corpsmen who know how to load. Our other corpsmen
are wounded one killed. We ll have to use any able-
bodied soldier who s around. We have an improvised
ramp.
You can count on me and my two crewmen to load,
said Wade, right behind them. Cherry had not seen the
pilot follow them. His face was pale and drawn.
All right, Captain, Cherry said. Start with this boy.
Easy does it, soldier. She knelt beside a dirty-faced lad
whose teeth were clenched in pain. His tag read internal
injuries. We re taking you home, Cherry said quickly.
You re going to be all right.
When he opened glazed eyes, and saw a nurse, he
tried to smile.
Dick, Bill, Wade, and a corpsman from the hold-
ing station gently but quickly picked up his litter and
carried him up the ramp. Cherry said to Bunce in a
low voice, Put him up forward and give him a shot of
morphine. And hurry!
FI RST MI SSI ON 101
The haggard doctor led Cherry among the litters,
deciding which ones should go. One man, covered with
mud and blood, fingered the edge of Cherry s trouser
leg. He whispered, Clean. . . .
Compound fracture of the tibia, will have to oper-
ate, the Army doctor was classifying them. This one
lost a lot of blood. Incipient peritonitis, here.
But to Cherry they were not abstract cases. They re
just tired, dirty kids who ve been shot up, she thought.
Bunce reported back to her. She drew him aside and
told him what special medicines to get from the holding
station for the trip.
There were too many wounded for them all to go on
this trip. And still, over the rim of a little hill, from
the sound of firing, came more ambulances loaded
with wounded. The strings of ambulances jolted and
bumped through the mud. Cherry thought of what even
so small a thing as a rifle bullet can do to the human
body, and was grateful for planes instead of those slow,
jolting ambulances.
Cherry, with one eye on her watch, supervised the
loading and placing of the litter cases, and hopped in
the plane for a moment herself. The men were suffer-
ing but calm. They asked for nothing but water. Each
time Cherry gave a man a drink, he smiled or tried
to, and could not thank her enough. Cherry left the
plane again as the sixteenth litter was being carried
up.
102 CHERRY AMES, FLI GHT NURSE
I want you to take these two walking wounded, the
doctor called to her.
Cherry turned. She saw one of the bravest and most
pathetic sights she had yet seen in war. Limping, stum-
bling, leaning against each other, came two dazed boys,
one with his arm flung about the other s neck. Their
heads drooped under their heavy metal helmets, their
breeches were split to the knee and bandages showed
through. One boy all but fainted in Bunce s arms. The
other boy protested:
I only got a scratch! I don t want to go to the hospital!
Let me go back to my outfit! I m not quittin ! I have to
get back to my outfit!
Cherry saw that the back of his leather jacket was
blood-soaked. They lifted him in, still protesting.
The casualties were all in now. Wade had gone up
forward. The copilot already had the propellers spin-
ning. The Army doctor hopped aboard to give last-
minute instructions to Cherry.
That internal injuries case. He rubbed his unshaven
jaw. I wish I could come along to look after him.
Can t you, sir?
The doctor looked back at Cherry from hollow
eyes.
I m the only doctor here . . . I ll notify England now
that you re on your way. Well, good luck!
Bunce slammed the doors shut. He had the patients
all strapped in.
FI RST MI SSI ON 103
Wade strode in hurriedly but with a big smile on his
face.
Men, I m your pilot. Name s Wade Cooper. I ll have
you in England, in a real hospital, in a jiffy. His voice
trembled. Just take yourselves a good nap. Nurse Ames
here, and the sergeant, will be looking out for you every
minute.
Cherry took another precious moment to reassure
the men. Their stricken faces showed they were listen-
ing. Fellows, even if you ve never been up before, don t
worry. Captain Cooper is a crackerjack pilot. He s been
in combat and
I flew in North Africa in the old days, Wade said.
Yes, sir, North Africa and around the Mediterra-
nean
Cherry whispered hastily, Before, you said China
and Russia.
Explain later. Altitudes? They moved aside to talk
altitudes for a moment. Just relax, boys. You ve earned
it! Wade half ran up the aisle of litters. Cherry saw
relief in some of the faces as he passed, and climbed
through the cockpit door.
Cherry sat down in the tail and strapped in. The
plane started to vibrate. She happened to look out the
low window, and nearly leaped out of her seat.
There, on this restricted military airfield, stood Mark
Grainger! He wore shabby civilian clothes, an old hat
pulled furtively over his smudged face. But it was Mark
104 CHERRY AMES, FLI GHT NURSE
Grainger and no mistake! He was hovering around a
plane which was evidently a special plane. What was
Mark Grainger and obviously in disguise, too doing
here? All Cherry s suspicions were aroused. What if he
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