I’ll never forget that; to be addressed as ‘nurse’ by a surgeon for the first time. How I wished Father had been there.

The operation was nothing like the line drawings in Father’s medical book. Once the leg was in two separate parts, he lifted the lower half and dumped it in my arms. ‘Stand it in the corner, nurse.’

Oh!

The limb was unexpectedly heavy, and I was shocked! Really shocked! I caught a glance from Josephine and understood this was a test.

‘Yes, sir,’ I said strongly, ignoring the foul-tasting saliva that rushed into my mouth. I propped the limb on its blackened, swollen foot in the corner; stuck my head out of the window and hauled in a fierce breath, then returned to the table. Rumley trimmed the muscle so that there was a good flap to sew over the end of the stump. Then he stitched the wound around a rubber drainage tube.

‘Pay attention, nurses. I spend too much time on external sutures when any of you could relieve me of the task.’ Without looking up, he said, ‘New girl, how’s your bandaging?’

‘I’m the best, sir,’ I said boldly, wishing I had the courage to tell him I could have done the stitches.

‘Then get on with this and be snappy, there’ll be another chloroform job in ten minutes.’

I am proud to say I applied my finest dressing to that limb. I thought of Corporal Perkins as I worked and I wondered if his wound had healed cleanly. Was he measured for a prosthetic, and could he go back to being a mechanic? Now, I realised the surgeon was right to take away a little more leg than appeared necessary. Better safe than sorry was the general consensus.

I missed Perkins and wished I had his address so that I could write to him.

*

‘Good job, today,’ Josephine said in our room. We had five hours to wash, eat, and sleep, so there was no time to deliver post or discuss the operation. What praise: good job! Despite my tiredness, I was proud and ambitious, and content with the day. I saw myself on the bottom rung of a ladder that I didn’t know I could climb, or to what heights it would take me.

When back on duty, I tackled everything offered, and did my best. Despite the bone-aching tiredness, the thrill of my latest accomplishments spurred me on towards any new challenge.

*