Notebook of Thomas Joseph Lynch, 1944-1945 - Part 2

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came near me for what appeared

to be hours. Somebody at last

came along & started to wheel

me along a xxxxxx corridor & into a

lift & then we started to descend.

This was the first time I had

been underground in a hospital

& as this was one of Hitler's

I started to imagine all kinds

of things that might happen

to a prisoner. The lift

stopped and I was wheeled out

& as I was being taken along

a passage I noticed the word

"ARBOARD" on a door. I thought

that this might be the dreaded

"Dulag Luft"., I had not yet passed

through their hands and our

intelligence in England had this

happy word on the stairway

(14)

for visitors to Germany between 

1939-1945.  Some of my

worst thoughts were dashed away

when I was wheeled into a

"Keller" in which all beds had

beautiful white sheets & I was

placed in one of these in

a small cubicle in which 

was one bed.

The nurse spoke for the

first time & she asked me

"spreken Deuch" & as I had

not got yet learnt my six ! words

of Germany, I replied - no.

I was then left alone again

but shortly after, two German

Doctors came to see me &

they asked me if I had any

medical papers with me as 

they knew nothing of my case 

(15)

& had not been advised that

I was arriving. I told them 

everything of my case that I 

knew & they left me.

During the next

few months I lay low while

the doctors & my nurse tried to 

clear up the infection & at

times when sister Anne was

dressing my wound and the smell

of rotten flesh was nearly too

much for her, but it was

chiefly due to her care and

attention that I was able to

leave the hospital alive.

One afternoon after I

had been here for about three

weeks five Americans were brought

in & I thought I was to have

company, but it turned out

(16)

that they were brought to the

hospital by mistake & they were

destined for Dulag Luft which

was xxxxxxx near Frankfurt.

While they were waiting to be

moved I asked a few questions

but the friendly one assisting them

was advised by the captain to

shut up as they did not know

who I was & I might be there

to get information from them.

This again was the security

work of our intelligence dept,

which did not always work like

this case. I suppose the captain

of the Fortress crew thought I

was destined for their hospital.

At that time my leg was in

a wooden [[?]] to which it was

strapped to prevent me moving,

(17)

and a cloth sleeve stuck to my

shin, just below the knee. This

was helping to pull the shin

down by means of [[more]] weights

connected end to end & cord

was tied to the other end of the

sleeve. This cord ran through

a pully & the weights weighing

16 lbs were tied to the end, 

over the bottom of the bed. I

must plead guilty once it is all

over, that once or twice I was

cranky and got rid of the weights

during the night, to give me relief,

& blamed the poor quality of 

war time German [[glue]], next

morning when I was asked

how it happened.  I don't think 

they believed me.

If I failed to get 

(18)

any information  from the

Americans, I was more successful 

a few weeks later. Dr Deniher's

assistant told me that the

invasion of Europe had taken

place two weeks ago & his

version of it was that the

British & Americans had tried

to invade Europe but had been

thrown back into the channel

& tens of thousands had died

in the attempted invasions. At

this time I was too sick to

worry about a little thing like

an invasion taking place.

He remarked that the conditions

incurred by the allies was our

just reward for the bombing

of Berlin & other German

cities by the RAF & American Air Forces.

(19)

His parting remark was "an 

Eye for an Eye".

This gives you some idea

how we can be [[turned]]

to think and believe if our minds 

are not free.

It was a very 

serious offense to be caught

listening to a foreign broad-

cast, & the majority of people

in Germany would not believe

reports from the BBC if they

were adverse to the German

War Effort.

I did not know that 

at xxxx ^∧about xxxx this stage of my

treatment, Dr Deniher was

considering taking my leg off

above the knee but a change for the

better & the infection started

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to clear up & after a few visits

to the surgery they began to

give me hope that I would

not have to have more of my

leg off. Sister Anne was as 

relieved as I was. Many a

morning she would give me

white bread for breakfast in place

of the black utility loaf which

contained a lot of sawdust.

On one of the daily

visits of Dr Deniher & party

on his rounds (at times the

retinue numbered between 20 & 30)

he remembered remarked to his

assistant that he thought I

was going nuts. This was told

to me by the assistant Dr 

who came back to my bed

while the Dr was inspecting

(21)

Tommy patients on the adjoining

wards. He always had a kind 

word or a smile & I told him

that I would press on regardless.

The pain at this period was

very bad & sister Anne or her 

replacement before going off duty

at night would leave me

sleeping tablets & pain tablets

for the long hours of darkness.

Day & night was always the 

same. I remember one morning

about 3 AM, I had a visit from

a strange nurse who asked me

how I was & could she do

anything for me. When I said no

she stayed on & during the

conversations she told me she

had been nursing in London

during 1939 & had been

(22)

recalled to Germany. She knew

many of the well known dives

around London. She helped me

pass through one night of misery

which seemed to last forever.

I never saw her again, but as

the Frankfurt Luft Hospital is a

modern building of five stories

that was not surprising.

Some of the things

I dreampt about & actually saw

with my own eyes abut this 

period can't be explained by the

dope which was been given me.

One "do" I will always remember

was a party thrown by the boys

of the sqdn Half of the dream

seemed to be in Africa & the

remainder _∧xxxx in England, but

wherever it took place it

(23)

must have been pretty wild.

The part that I can remember

most vividly took place at the

Sphinx in Algiers. I was

bar xxx man & I seemed to be

down on my knees opening cases

of champagne and handing it

out by the bottle & everybody

was enjoying himself.  The party

ended whin I woke to find

my white bed sheets covered in

blood and the white wall near

my bed marked with blood.

My leg which had been bandaged

with paper bandage & tied

to the wood on [[?]] low platform

had been pulled loose & the

bandages torn from my leg &

I had scattered them blood

soaked all over the room.

(24)

I had never thought so much blood

could come from one person, that

was until a few weeks later when

I saw it pour from an American

boy's mouth during a haemorrhage.

By now every room was full

of  nurses  & patients getting an

eyeful of the "results of the morning

after the night before". When 

Dr Deniher was told of the

incident I noticed he had a look

for empties under my bed.

Another entirely different scene

took place shortly after this &

the setting was on a farm in

Derbyshire, _∧ in which county I had

tours of operational flying. The 

dream or whatever one would

call it took place during the

(25)

day time, which makes me believe

there must be another name for

this state of health. I was on

the ground in a barn &

across my chest was one

wheel of a farm cart. I could

not remove it & I told myself

I had to lay still until

some body came along &

moved it off me. While this

was going on, I tried to convince

myself that it could not be 

so because I was a P.O.W. in

Germany. A nurse came along &

told me to go to sleep &

everything was OK again. 

I had ideas that people were

in the next ward calling me

& I would ask them who

(26)

it was & the reply was, "you

know who it is". This would

sometimes  go on until a nurse

told me there was nobody there, 

but I was hard to convince.

Sister Anne had arranged

that during the quiet hrs from

2 - 3, I was to have a haircut.

I remembered about 18 weeks

previously in England on the sqd.

at Binbrook, I had intended

doing this but you know how

one puts things off until

to-morrow. I had now gone

18 weeks without a hair cut &

was not worrying about my

appearance. I had not had

a shave for several weeks & did

not realize what a wreck I

looked untill one morning

(27)

when I  had been wheeled into

the surgery Doctor said "you

look like a sailor" & asked

me if I had seen myself in

a mirror recently. I said I

had not. When he produced a

mirror I did not know the

face which looked into it. No

sailor ever looked like that.

He made arrangements for me

to have a haircut that afternoon

& I duly came out from beneath

the [[?]] of hair. There must have

been an improvement in my

condition because several weeks later

I was also provided a bath by my

loyal sister. She was as good as

her word as 2 [[?]] later I had

a bath. I was very weak so

she did all the hard work

(28)

such as washing me & splashing the

water over my body. I was able to

sit upright which I thought was

very good. She let me soak for

around ½ hour & came back to

finish the job. She took a risk

leaving me in such deep water

& I was pleased to get back

to bed and rest.

I had had several 

blood transfusions from German

supplies &  from the prisoners

who had been brought from

Dulag Luft to the hospital to

give their blood. The last &

final transfusion I had was

from an American Major. I

was not taking much interest

in things that day & forgot to

ask him his name, but I

(29)

remember him saying that I

would find a big improvement

in my voice when I got well

again as he was a good singer.

I regret to say there has been

no improvement in my voice, 

but his blood must have done

me a lot of good as I began

to improve from that date.

Sister Anne would always

tell me little things of interest. One

afternoon she tole me that I was

to have a companion to speak to.

I waited all the afternoon for this

great event, for I had been about

6 mths alone. My friend  arrived

arrived about [[?]] P.M. & was

wheeled into the ward & placed

beside my bed - when the orderly

left, I thought I had better

(30)

introduce myself as the new

arrival did not seem to be

taking any interest. I said "how

are you, I am an Australian"

He did not shift his gazed from 

straight ahead but replied "How is

your kid brother?  By the time I

had recovered sufficiently to know

that it was not me who was nuts,

I thought the best reply to this would

be - O.K.  His next remark was "He

must be a big boy now"  I replied

that he was doing well"  This 

seemed to satisfy him as he

paid no more attention to me

but continued to roll a piece

of cotton in a  little ball between

his finger and thumb. The doctor

shortly after came in to have

a look at the new case & as