She watched him walk away and sighed. All of them were worn out and with still more casualties arriving daily she wondered how the hospital was going to cope. They had already had to ask for help from the Nuneaton and Hartshill Red Cross nurses to provide the extra staff but soon they wouldn’t be able to squeeze any more beds into the wards. The young man in the bed winced then and when she looked down at him she saw that his eyes were open.

‘I heard the doctor say somethin’ about goin’ to theatre?’ he said in a shaky voice. ‘Was he talkin’ about me?’

Holly nodded, not sure what she should tell him. How did you tell someone, who until recently had been young and active, that he was about to have a limb amputated?

‘But why?’ His eyes were tight on her and she felt hot colour creeping up her neck into her cheeks.

‘I think it might be best if I get Matron to come and explain,’ she told him and before he could object she hurried off to find her.

They arrived back at the bedside within minutes to find the young man anxiously waiting for them. ‘What’s wrong? What are they gonna do to me?’ he asked.

Matron gently laid her hand on his arm. ‘I’m afraid your leg is gangrenous below the knee,’ she told him in a hushed voice. ‘And the only way we can prevent the infection from spreading is to remove it.’

Stark fear shone in his eyes as his head wagged from side to side. ‘NO! I ain’t havin’ me leg off,’ he protested. ‘I’m too young to be a cripple. Me life will be over.’

‘I’m afraid if you don’t you will die,’ she told him bluntly but still he shook his head.

‘I won’t give you permission to do it,’ he protested strongly. ‘I don’t wanna be butchered.’ At that moment they spotted his girlfriend standing at the end of the ward. She had come to see him every day since he had been there.

‘Let’s talk to your girl and see what she has to say about it,’ Matron suggested, and minutes later the girl, a pretty, petite blonde, was at the side of the bed holding his hand tightly as Matron explained the position to her. Tears trickled down her cheeks but when she turned to the young man lying on the bed her voice was strong.

‘You must let them do it, I’d rather have you with a leg missing than not at all.’

‘What? You mean you’d still want me?’

‘Of course I would.’ She smiled at him through her tears. ‘Lots of people learn to cope with only one leg and you’re strong. You’ll do the same.’

He stared at her for a long moment before slowly nodding. ‘Very well, go ahead.’

Matron led his young lady away to wait anxiously as Holly quickly prepared him for theatre but her heart was heavy as the full implications of the effect the war was having on so many people came home to her. Here was a young man with his whole life in front of him who from now on would never be able to do some of the things he had done before. And yet he was one of the lucky ones. At least he had come home. Many had died already and now the sight of the boy pedalling furiously along the streets to deliver telegrams to inform mothers and wives that their loved ones would never return struck fear into the hearts of everyone who saw him.