Gertie's Path - The Salvaged Summer Trilogy
All for Overalls (Summer 1940)
With the news from Dunkirk, a scrawny fourteen-year old errand boy called Gertie is spurred into action. A lanky lad with borrowed specs, smelly feet, awkward elbows and big ears, who liked to keep things simple, plenty in the village had shrugged him off as ‘can’t make him out.’ Then the war had started, things had begun to get desperate, and they couldn’t afford to waste anything, not even Gertie!
As the local residents adapt to wartime-ways, the old village and the new RAF hospital had plenty of characters and best-intentions between them, but country wisdom and military efficiency didn’t always rub along smoothly …
“Just because you’re out of the way, doesn’t mean you’re not in the middle of it!”
If the Sock Fits! (Autumn/Winter 1940)
The second book in the trilogy moves on to the autumn of 1940 and the harsh reality of harvest time in the countryside as the Battle of Britain rages in the skies overhead and England’s Greatest Generation rises to the challenge and, of course, there was Gertie … as determined and inventive as ever!
Churchill had been right about ‘the Few’ being the ones to save them through the summer, but it was going to take ‘the many’ – the Land Army and the locals – pulling together, if they were going to get through the coming winter.
“You get them to believe they can fight back, and they stop feeling beaten.”
Raids, Rallies & Reserves (1941)
Blasted Blitz! Freezing winds and no overcoats … and now the Americans were coming!
Doug did his best, but his ‘lovely lady’ still managed to plough up the grazing meadow and send a piece of wing skipping the hedge to knock Riggs from his post. The RAF pilot walked away with nothing more than few scratches and a sandwich, leaving Riggs with two broken legs, a wounded heart and Gertie playing cupid!
Matters came to a head with the news coming through of Pearl Harbour. Mr Tor went missing down a rum bottle and there were a dozen geese to throttle, pluck and deliver. The best Gertie could do was feed the pigs and drag the delirious farmer along for the ride! As for Sarg at the gate wondering about that officer? Gertie could explain everything:
“Oh, don’t worry Sarg, he’s just there to stop the others falling out!”
