Chapter 8: Disaster Strikes Again

10th May 1941.

The Feathers opened for business as usual that night. It was only a few days later that everyone realised that this night was to be the last big fling of the Luftwaffe. By the end of the night the total of deaths would have risen to 43,000 civilians killed. As usual the sirens sounded as darkness fell which was not unusual as it had now been 57 continuous days since the start of the Blitz on London. Tony hoped that soon Fay would be joining him, as she had despite many protests from her father, insisted on resigning from the force. This she had been allowed to do because she was a probationer. Since leaving the police force he had been in the habit of every night of the week singing with Tony and staying most nights with him much to the annoyance of Clare. If Kate showed any resentment in Fay's obvious pursuit of Tony she did not make it obvious and welcomed Fay with open arms...

Tony had in the past few days received notification of the presentation of his medal by the King at Buckingham Palace, after much thought; he had elected to take Joan as his partner. He had made it clear to everyone that Joan's husband and his father had been killed at the same time, and he thought she should at least have this moment of glory as a remembrance to Alan. Lady Sheila his mother was his obvious first choice, but she declined the offer to accompany him, as she wanted to avoid the publicity surrounding her finding Tony and his obvious succession to the title...

The press had visited him and was intrigued at having discovered that not only had he inherited his fathers' title but he had been recommended for a further award due to his rescue of Mrs. Wails and her mother from the land mine the previous month. Apparently as Tony was still officially in the Royal Navy he would possibly get a bar to his DSM and not the George Medal as a civilian.

Tony was rather embarrassed at all the fuss, and once again his photograph was in the papers as the investiture list was announced. Much fuss was made about him taking Joan and despite the fact that Tony had made it clear that although he had a fiancé; Joan was a long standing friend and deserved to be present on the occasion, as her husband had died in the same attack. To his surprise on reading Joans mind he found that she was relieved that he had found someone else, and that she had given up the idea of marrying him. She congratulated him on his medal, but did not ask any questions about his fiancé. Tony was relieved as at the time, mentioning a fiancé was still a figment of Tony's imagination; he was also very relieved that Joan was not upset.

Tonight was going to be his celebration and farewell party in the Feathers, but he did not want a big fuss, as in his own mind he was not sure that he had done anything out of the ordinary line of duty. Tony had decided that he should in the next few days move to join his mother. Both Kate and Fay understood, and Fay had asked if he could find her a job on the estate. She was desperate to stay with Tony, and in her own mind; she knew that he was the man for her. She loved horses and as the estate had to use many horses for the farm work; Tony thought that there might be some form of opening for her in the stables...

The more they were together the closer they had got and Tony had soon found that Fay had a highly intelligent and pleasant personality. He enjoyed being with her and thoughts of marriage were definitely foremast in his mind.

Unusually Fay had not arrived that night which worried Tony slightly as this was intended to be a special night. His worry was increased as they had to move quickly to the cellar under the bar as the bombs started to fall, and it soon became evident that tonight the Germans were making a very special effort. In an interval in the bombing, Tony and Kate went to his bedroom, and looking out across as far as he could see they could see whole batches of incendiary bombs go off in a few seconds. They saw the intense flashes and then saw them simmer down to pin points of intense white light burning ferociously. Kate looked at him and said quietly. "Tony tonight they are intent on burning London to the ground. Tonight they are out to kill us all."

They could see the pin points of light go out one by one as they were smothered with sand or water, but there were too many, for every incendiary that was extinguished two more took their place, as they watched they would see a yellow flame erupt as a major fire broke out and another building caught fire.

Tony felt the power of the ring telling him that he had to go out and help and he turned to Kate and told her

"Kate I can not stand and watch. I'm going out to help; you must look after your customers."

As Kate returned to the shelter in the cellar with Bill and his daughter, and the few customers who had been in the bar at the time of the start of the raid. Tony joined the ARP Wardens and the firemen and volunteers in the streets outside, smothering the incendiary bombs with sand, or helping in the rescue of people trapped by the high explosive bombs that came with the next wave of bombers.

It was not long before the emergency water tanks were empty with the intensity of the bombing and the resultant fires, but gradually they managed to cope with the worst of the incendiaries. It was just turned dawn, as a very tired and very dirty Tony trudged back through the rubble of burnt houses and smoking debris to the Feathers. As he turned the corner he saw the area had been flattened. The Feathers was a smouldering wreck. A number of people were frantically trying to remove rubble and get to the cellar where they hoped some people might still be alive when the building had collapsed and caught fire. Amongst them Tony saw a much disheveled Fay, her face covered in grime, tears and dust and her hands were bleeding from the unusually hard work. She turned and seeing Tony she ran towards him, jumping into his arms crying in relief as she smothered his face with tears of relief and passionate kisses...

Tony knew then for certain that this was the girl he wanted to marry. They both knew that it was a forlorn hope to find any survivors alive as they continued to help in the rescue work, but eventually the experts shook their heads and said. "It's no good." And turned their efforts towards other people trapped nearby. Fay took Tony back to her apartment which had survived. They both had a quick bath and went to bed. It was confirmed later that Kate, Bill and Clare had lost their lives in the raid and once again Tony realised that the ring in telling him to go and help others had also saved his life.