CHAPTER 27
They had taken the best part of three hours, and Staff Sullivan had done us proud with a private room to sit with Bob. He had even found us a tray of tea, proper Army brew. Bob had sat silent, staring at his cup, till Matthew laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Penny for them, Robert?”

He kept his eyes down. “Why are you all here?”

Ernie snorted. “For fuck’s sake, pardon my bloody French, you sat and heard why in that bloody court!”

“Aye, but I’m---“

“A comrade”. Rodney’s interruption hadn’t been loud, but it carried the necessary weight. “We’re all comrades, and everyone here is alive because of you. There is more, though. I rather believe we are all friends to boot. Matthew?”

“Oh, most definitely, old boy. We shall have to build on that aspect of our lives in a fitting way, what?”

Even Bob cracked a smile as he did the plummy toff to perfection.

“Major Folland…”

“Matthew, dear boy, if you please”

“Matthew. You sounded just like that when we met, no offence meant. Putting on airs, like”

“No offence taken, Robert. If I recall the events of that day correctly, I would have been more fittingly clad in brown corduroy than in battledress khaki”

“Beg pardon?”

Ernie was laughing. “Daft ha’porth. That joke, Matthew? Forty French frigates, right?”

Matthew grinned, and I realised he had a number of small scars only really visible as his face crinkled. “Absolutely, Ernie, old bean. Shall I tell it, or leave it to you?”

“Oh, you started it, you finish it!”

Mathew lolled back in his chair. “Well, it was the great Admiral Nelson, who on hearing the lookout’s cry from the crow’s nest of ‘French frigate fine off the starboard bow’ called Hardy to him. ‘Hardy, I must inspire the men to do their duty. If I am seen to be wounded, the red flow will unman them. Bring me my scarlet dress jacket to hide any blood I may shed and then engage the French vessel.’

“So Hardy brought forth his scarlet jacket, and Nelson donned it. Just as he replaced his hat, there was another cry from the lookout. ‘Make that forty four French frigates!’

“Nelson sighed. ‘Hardy’, he said, ‘Bring me my brown corduroy trousers’.”

A genuine laugh from Bob at last, just as Staff Sullivan appeared with his monkeys. “Have to get him ready for return to the court, gents. They’re back in in ten minutes”

Rodney nodded in gratitude. “Thank you for your kindness, Staff Sergeant”

“Not at all, sir. I did some work over there in ’44 and ’45. With Graves Registration, around Caen. Let us just say that I have a bit of an insight into what you boys went through, not like that man with the slippery head. I could—no, not here, not today. Boys will take the prisoner now, gentleman. Up with you, Mister Wainwright”

The Judge Advocate was looking hard at Charles as we went in, and ‘that man with the slippery head’ did not look happy. A thunder of boots as Bob was marched back in, and I fancied he was moving with more than a hint of returning spirit. The formalities were observed, and then the JA delivered his verdict, for it was clear that Charles had very little taste for it.

“Prisoner will stand. The verdict of this court is unavoidable. The accused has been found to be guilty as charged. Sit down, Mister Wainwright”

Something else was happening here, for he had been almost casual in revealing his decision, as if it was of no real importance. He looked across to our little officer.

“Captain Flanagan, may we congratulate you on your presentation of this case. You have honoured your position, your Corps and this court with the energy and passion you have given to your duty, and I rather feel that you have seen it as more of a vocation than an assignment. Unfortunately, we cannot accept the notion of unsound mind, for if that were so no man who has properly served the colours could ever be convicted of any offence, no matter how serious. The case you presented is one entirely composed of mitigation, not defence.

“The facts are, in the end, incontrovertible. Warrant Officer Wainwright was caught in the actual moment he committed an act with another man that is not only against Civil and Military law but also against nature and God’s Holy Word. There can be no other verdict but that he is guilty.

“There remains, though, that very question of mitigation, which I will admit has divided this Court. I will not, therefore, expect to hear more offered. Is there indeed more? No? Thank you, Captain Flanagan. It is therefore the sentence of this court that Warrant Officer Wainwright will serve a term of imprisonment which will be equal in length to the period he has already been detained in this place, and that he be discharged from the service, that discharge to be an honourable one”

Flanagan was looking smugly at Brylcreem Boy, whose face was betraying more than a hint of frustrated rage. Our Captain stood. “Sir, may I ask if the sentence is a further term, or if you are saying that WO Wainwright has already served said period of imprisonment?”

The Judge Advocate smiled wearily. “The good chap has indeed served his penance, but I must add before he leaves this place that our leniency is entirely due to his outstanding service record, to the service he has indeed given to persons here and to his Sovereign and his nation. WO Wainwright?”

“SIR!”

“Be aware that this Court can offer no further assistance to you. The balance sheet of your sins is now clear, so in the words of our Lord, go, and sin no more, for if you do He will be the only one who may defend you”

They nodded, rose and left the courtroom. The two monkeys looked confused, clearly having expected a return march with Bob to the glasshouse, and Sullivan waved them away before approaching us.

“How much kit you got in the mess, Bob?”

“Trunk and a couple of kitbags, but most of it’s issue, so happen I won’t need it. What the bloody hell just happened?”

Sullivan grinned. “Charlie Boy there just got his nose put well out of joint. Remember that service I told you about, posting with the Graves boys?”

Most of us nodded or grunted that we did. “Well, I happen to know that Colonel Drayson had two sons at Goodwood, Hussars they were. They’re still out there, if you see what I mean. He doesn’t forget, that one. Now, Bob, your kit. Where do you want it delivered? I can make a telephone call, get it picked up”

“I can always—“

“No, you can’t. Discharged, that’s you. Still got your service pension, still got your LS and GC, but you’ve got no right of entry to service establishments no more. I can get the local redcaps to pick it up; I just need to know where to send it”

I put a hand up, as if I were at school, just as Rodney cleared his throat.

“No, Gerald, you were first. I was going to offer Robert a place, as I am sure you will have guessed”

“Aye, Rodney. What it is, it’s my dad-in-law. Well, not wed yet, but you know what I mean, aye? Well, Cyril, that’s his name, he’s got together with Dad and some other old lads, lads who know what it’s about from first one, like, and they’re saying they’ll find a place for Bob. Somewhere to live, job if they can, and it’s up home”

I turned back to my other friend, my other comrade. “Bob, it’s like Cyril says, my dad-in-law to be, like. Says when a man brings so many other lads back home in one piece, they don’t forget. He says that most people, they don’t know what we know, what they learned back in ’17 and ’18. That we look after ourselves, cause nobody else will. And he says we pay our debts.

“Happen they know what you were banged up for, but they say it doesn’t matter, cause you brought me and Ernie here back safe, and my Tricia she says to me to come home safe, and I know that she meant to get you home safe as well. So it’s your choice, Bob. Not saying owt bad about Rodney’s place”

That man laughed. “No, Gerald, I can tell, and I rather believe you are right. Robert, you need to find a life, make a new one for yourself. Now, with me it would just be two old soldiers rattling around in the old place, and you need to enter the world once more. I do trust I will be compelled to receive visitors from time to time, though”

New life was there for Rodney as well, it seemed. I reached out to shake his single hand.

“Happen it’ll be me that has the visitors, once I get that sorted. Rodney, Matthew? You’ll come and see me wed to my Tricia?”

Ernie was quick off the mark. “You don’t ask me or Bob?”

“Happen you live just round corner, Ernie, and can smell a free meal from forty mile off, so how could I keep you out? As for Bob, well, I’ll need a best man when I get wed, won’t I?”

I found a gentle smile on my face. “Bob, will you do that for me? Best man, like. Can’t think of a better one”

He nodded. There were tears.