‘Unfortunately, his mother is having to come from London,’ the sister told Kathy. ‘We sent a telegram very early this morning to tell her how serious his condition is, and we got one back within an hour saying that she would get here as soon as possible. But with the way the trains are running there’s no way of knowing if she will get here in time.’

‘How awful,’ Kathy answered ‘Sister, would you mind if I sat with him to offer what little comfort I can? I would hate to think of anyone leaving this earth with no one holding their hand.’

‘How kind, of course.’

Kathy hurried over and pulled a chair up to the side of his bed and started to speak to him soothingly.

‘Your mum is on the way,’ she told him gently. ‘And I don’t mind betting she’s so proud of you. Where were you stationed before you became injured?’

‘Africa,’ he said throatily. ‘It were ’ot as ’ell out there but nowhere near as ’ot as these bloody burns.’ All that was visible were his lips and eyes, which stared up at her, full of pain and suffering. Every other inch of him was swathed in bandages making him look like an Egyptian mummy.

‘And do you have a girlfriend, Jimmy?’ she asked after checking his name on his chart.

His head moved just a fraction. ‘Yes, ’er name is Carol an’ she’s a right little sweet’eart. She’s in the WRENs so she can’t get to see me but I ’ad a letter off ’er while I were in the hospital in Portsmouth.’

As Kathy stared at the bandages, she wondered what he had looked like before the war. She could see by the notes on the end of his bed that he was just twenty-one years old but even as she was trying to picture him, he winced and tried to raise his arm.

‘I’m going to get you some more painkillers,’ she told him and after she had administered an injection he thankfully drifted off into a drug-induced sleep. Fortunately, his mother appeared at the door an hour later and after pulling the curtains about Jimmy’s bed to give them some privacy Kathy hurried away to see what could be done for the rest of the patients.

By the time she finished her shift at five o’clock she was worn out and downhearted.

‘How did your first day go?’ Sunday asked when she entered the kitchen some time later and Kathy promptly burst into tears.