We knew we’d meet again . . . but where and when
Celebrating her 100th birthday last year, Dame Vera Lynn recalled her emotional visit to sing for the troops of Lieutenant- General William Slim�s �Forgotten Army� on the subcontinent in 1943.
Soldiers fighting the Japanese advance into India wept and cheered as �the Forces� Sweetheart� stood in fields and hospitals, singing of Dover�s White Cliffs until the make-up ran down her face and her voice was reduced to a ragged croak.
But Dame Vera wasn�t the only British woman to make the long journey there. The following July, 20-year-old Madge Graves stepped on to a troop ship bound for Chittagong.
Madge Graves fell in love with the dashing Captain Basil Lambert but they didn't marry until after the war
The newly-qualified nurse had been caring for casualties of the D-Day landings at Stoke Mandeville hospital when she responded to Lord Mountbatten�s request for nurses to bolster Allied medical units in Chittagong, just over the Burmese border in India.
In a moving wartime memoir, Madge recalls how, instead of the combat injuries she had expected to treat, she arrived at the hospital in Chittagong to find wards filled with shaking, sweating men.
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Share In 1943 malaria had almost defeated the British. For every soldier evacuated with wounds, 120 were evacuated with the disease. Madge watched her first patient, a kind-hearted farmhand called George, die after suffering fits of shaking so violent that his bed frame banged against the bamboo walls of the hospital.
The newly-qualified nurse had been caring for casualties of the D-Day landings at Stoke Mandeville hospital when she accepted a request for nurses in Chittagong
But many more patients were treated successfully and Madge began to enjoy life on an Indian ward. She learned to check her shoes for snakes and spiders and quickly cottoned on to the lingo. A bhisti brought water, a dhoti-wallah did the washing and a punkah-wallah pulled the strings on the fans. �But the most important word,� said the ward sister, �is �char�. That means tea!�
On a trip into town Madge found what looked like a salon and was welcomed into a jasmine-scented room where she was surrounded by �brown-eyed beauties� who gave her a perm, a manicure and a free bottle of coconut oil for her hair.
She felt marvellous until her makeover prompted a dressing-down from the Military Police for bringing the hospital into disrepute. It turned out Madge had got her hair permed in a brothel.
Love came her way in the dashing, moustachioed form of Capt. Basil Lambert. Madge tells a tender tale of a youthful romance, enhanced by exotic surroundings and intensified by the daily threat to both their lives. Friends got married, but Basil refused to make a young widow of his beloved.
Basil returned to Madge in February 1947 and the couple were married the following year and their story attracted national attention in 2015 (Madge with Prince Harry)
In other Allied hospitals, the Japanese had bayoneted medics and patients, so many nurses refused to treat Japanese PoWs. But Madge�s unprejudiced compassion shone through: some spat in her face as she tried to save their lives, but she knew that they would rather have died than endure the dishonour of enemy assistance.
Basil myanmar map returned to Madge in February 1947 and the couple were married the following year. Their story received media attention when they took part in the VJ Day parade down Whitehall in 2015.
Prime minister David Cameron asked Madge if the Burma Star and Defence Medal she wore were hers. She politely informed him that they certainly were. He should have known, she says, that medals worn on the left have been awarded to the wearer, while relatives of deceased service personnel wear them on the right.
She expected to treat wounded soldiers but was shocked at the wards filled with shaking men
Their love affair was celebrated in a dance performed on the BBC�s Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, with 12 million viewers. One professional dancer was so affected by the couple�s story that she burst into tears during rehearsals.
When Basil and Madge joined the pros to the strains of Vera Lynn�s We�ll Meet Again, they received a standing ovation.
�What we learned in those troubled times�, concludes Madge, �was to compromise. There was no other option in the burma map Campaign. And I feel it has been the ability to compromise that has been the secret to our marriage, too.�
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