大象传媒

Mary Terry鈥檚 World War 2

In January 1939 Mary Terry was 28 and in Austria skiing and flirting like mad with lots of young men. She was attractive and lively! She wasn鈥檛 married and mostly led a very boring life at home looking after her ailing 72 year old mother. She was the youngest of four children. But here she was in Switzerland having the time of her life!
Her 1st January 1939 diary entry reads 鈥楽aw my over-friendly ski-instructor of last night. He came and shook hands. He looks very like Louis, I cannot tell them apart. Johnny came and danced at tea time. Also after dinner in the Bar. He said I was too beautiful in my blue dress to dance with and that he preferred me in my grey trousers. We danced cheek to cheek in the dark. Then he and Rolf went upstairs. I waited. Presently a hand came round the door and beckoned. Rolf came down and I went up. Johnny and I kissed and he promised to write. I wrote my address, opened my right hand and showed it to him there in my palm. He nodded, we danced, gradually his hand travelled down to my palm and he put the address in his pocket. We kissed each other goodbye in the sun lounge, and for once were not disturbed by der Alter. We arranged to meet once again by the Funi.
2nd January. Skiied alone all morning practised Christies and so on. Glorious afternoon, met Johnny by the Funi. Climbed up to a Chalet and skied geradeaus to the bottom with many falls. Johnny followed like a bird to the very bottom then through trees and down again to the Niedershlach, it was crusty and very difficult and how I fell. Rolf came tearing down too. I walked with them to their chalet. J had to go and pack, I went back to the slopes. J came again and we went home for tea together. After tea we danced together till it was time for him to go. He said 鈥淚ch werde Dir Gerne schreiben鈥�. After dinner we went a walk and snooped through windows, nothing going on anywhere, so we returned to the Bar for Beer.
4th January. Really heavenly all day. Took only 20 mins to come down the red flag way. Ate lunch on slopes, shared mine with Barbara, went up again and old M showed me and Sylvia a new way. Was terrified but did not fall and very much enjoyed it. Had coffee at the Rubeschen. Barbara came back with me and Jean & Netta wished they had. In the Bar Rolf鈥檚 step-brother danced. Then came Peter, who at last persuaded me to go lugeing with him. We lay in the snow and kissed, and kept falling off the luge. Discussed right and wrong and failed to convince him. He told me of his parents divorce. Did not get back till all the doors were locked, got in thro鈥� the stoke hole. Of course der Alter saw us.
5th January Went up in the Funi and down the blue and yellow. Danced till very late. Before all his party had gone to bed, came Peter. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 wait any longer鈥� he said. I refused to go lugeing . We sat at the Bar and drank. He told me of his father鈥檚 unequal treatment of him, of his difficulty in adjusting himself to it. We danced again then went up and sat in the Ping Pong room. Wanted to make love to me but would not allow it. Said if only I鈥檇 come to bed with him he would be very patient with me and that it would be something to remember, a memory for us both. I said he must work hard and be independent. He was astonished 鈥淣o-one has ever spoken like that to me before or cared what happened to me, why should you care?鈥� Wanted to remain all night together but I could not trust him. Did not get away from him till 4.30am sat together on the stairs. We kissed goodnight by my door.
6th January Went up in the Funi and led a party down, Marcus, Jean and Barbara. It snowed, finished our packing and I skated all afternoon with Marcus till Rolf came. We skated hand in hand a bit and then I came in. Barbara danced till the last second, terrible rush, packed all her tickets, passport etc and had the wildest scrimmage to get them back. Peter told me he had scraped up enough money to stay another night instead of going back to Zurich, for which I was pleased as I had no intention of staying the night there, which was what he wanted me to do. B and I had a good dinner. We found a nice man in our cabin on the Ferry. We had lunch together, it was very rough and I was sick all over the deck. At Dover he bundled me into his leather coat and got me tea with brandy in it. We said 鈥楪oodbye鈥� at Victoria.
By Sunday 8th January Mary was back at home, being spoiled with a lovely breakfast in bed as she gave presents to her nearest and dearest. Then it was back to the old routine of mornings at the Art School in Chester, parties that were now boring. She took the family terrier Tig for a walk every day and quite often went for bike rides too. On 11th Jan she wrote 鈥業t is already 8 years since Maurice died 鈥� he used to like skiing too, its something we never did together鈥�. As a 20 year old she had been hoping to marry Maurice, but he died after a fall from a horse whilst out hacking alone in Delamere Forest. The horse alerted everyone by coming back to the stables alone.

On 20th January the family doctor Dr Arthur, who came most days to see Mary鈥檚 mother, congratulated her on becoming a Red Cross Nurse. A couple of days later she heard 鈥淚ch tauze mit Dir in dem Himmel hinein鈥� which took her back to Braunwald and 鈥榟er鈥� Peter. Mary鈥檚 sister offered to come home to share looking after their mother but Mary wouldn鈥檛 hear of it because she didn鈥檛 think they would get on together sharing the job. Dr Arthur encouraged her to go and work towards her St John鈥檚 Ambulance exam. He gave lectures at these sessions.

Mary鈥檚 father was the medical officer for ICI at Runcorn and they had a comfortable house with a cook and a housekeeper, and big garden that kept two gardeners fully occupied. There were several greenhouses, a potting shed, an extensive vegetable garden, a beautiful sunken rose garden in front of the Drawing Room windows, leading away to an avenue of ball shaped yew bobs on mown grass. There was also a grass tennis court with a Summerhouse overlooking it, one of those ones that could be turned to follow the sun. My grandmother kept hens and they had a generous run and there was also a paddock, which was let. There were two coal-fired boilers at cellar level below different parts of the house. One ran the central heating and the other in winter, heated a conservatory where my grandfather kept exotic plants. The family had two cars, one for my grandfather, who was generally called Doc, even by his children; and one for my grandmother. She wasn鈥檛 ever well enough to drive though, and as soon as Mary could, she had learned to drive it. There was no test to pass in those days. Doc had a chauffeur for his car, a man called Clarke. Horses had long gone but the stables were still there used as garages.

16th March Hitler has now occupied Czecho-Slovakia
18th March It would appear that Hitler has now sent an ultimatum to Romania. Hope there wont be war, what good could it do to anyone.
8th May Had a letter inviting me to Hungary (to give English lessons to a young daughter). Didn鈥檛 quite know what to do about it so when Dr Arthur came I said 鈥淒o you know what?鈥� and he said 鈥淣o what?鈥� 鈥淚鈥檝e been invited to stay with some people in Buda-pest, do you think Mother will be all right by July?鈥� He said he couldn鈥檛 promise but he thought it quite probable. Later, I told Doc about Hungary and he seemed to think it was a very good idea and would like me to go
10th May Doc posted my answer to Hungary.
22nd May Had another letter from Hungary, they are glad I can go.
There was lots of playing tennis, nursing tutorials and an exam, which she passed on 2nd June. Her mother didn鈥檛 want her to go and nurse at the Infirmary in Chester.
About a week before departure on 20th July for Hungary, Mary started washing her clothes and making preparations to go. She got her ticket on 18th July and packed on the 19th for a month鈥檚 stay.
20th July Doc took me to Beeston station to catch 8.30am train to Crewe and the 9.08am train to Euston arr 12.00. Travelled to Crewe with Zoe, met C Lewis at Victoria. Talked to a queer woman on the boat, luckily calm. Went from Ostend to Liege with a Belgium boy. During the night the German ticket collector brought in a terrible Plug Ugly. He slept and in the morning went. Chatted during the day with various people and at tea time a young German Officer got me a beer and gave me a peach v good. At Vienna my train had gone and the officer was very kind but I couldn鈥檛 understand what he said. Finally a red-hatted man took me to a telegraph office and another took me along the station and through locked barriers where, with his help I sent a telegram to Alice Radisics. When I got back to my luggage the man refused a tip and there I saw Plug Ugly looking exceedingly sinister drinking out of a bottle. He made room for me on his bench and then we got talking, and I understood why he came in the night, because he was travelling third and wanted to sleep. We waited for a long time, then he offered to fill my water bottle for me and I realised that his own bottle also had only water in it. The porter put my luggage in the train and Plug Ugly and I paced the platform. He was also helping a lady with a baby. When the 2nd class carriages were put on, I got in. It was intolerably hot even with the window open. About 11.30 we started off and I slept at intervals. I passed the frontier successfully and had no trouble over luggage.

22nd July Arrived at Budapest 6.30am. Before we arrived Plug Ugly came along to my carriage, he said he had slept next door, it was nice of him not to disturb me. He looked very distinguished in spite of his ugliness. He got my luggage down and helped to get my racquet out. Alice was waiting for me, and so I shook hands and said goodbye to Plug and went in a taxi with Alice to her house. There I had a bath, breakfast, went to a little room and slept on a bed in only my knickers and bb. Went to the Bank and took the 12.30 boat to Dunafoldrar. Dundy came with us and he helped me over my lunch. Drove to Baracs. Met everyone, went early to bed.
To start with Mary didn鈥檛 have much to do and she was very homesick, then had a stomach upset that put her out of action for a bit, but it wasn鈥檛 long before she was swimming in the Danube, playing tennis and dancing with young men. Fusi was her pupil. The family travelled about by horse and carriage and Mary thought this such a noisy way of getting about! At one point she and Fusi went to 鈥榝oldrar in a quaint little trap with a very ragged man driving and they saw lot of soldiers and armoured cars. Another evening 2 of the girls went to the station to say goodbye to their boy friends who were leaving. Before going home Mary had to go to the Town Hall to report her departure and on the way home, one of the horses became very frisky and it was all the small boy driving them, could do to hold them. Mary was scared. On her last day there, lots of them went down to the Danube to swim. The river was very full but they had a wonderful time. Alex, one of the young men, had just got a good job at a school and he told Mary 鈥榟is Jewman wanted him to marry his daughter, a marriage of convenience鈥�. They went to the station in a car. Alex took lots of the girls along too to give her a big Farewell.
21st August Set off after a marvellous breakfast with Dundi鈥檚 mother and she showed me the way to the Wave Bath. I found it quite by accident and after sadly sitting and bathing alone for some time, a man asked if I was English and he turns out to be Peter Osborne who鈥檚 sister Mrs Chapman lives at Tarporley, I was amazed and so was he. Soon a girl joined us called Jean and she paid for my lunch very decently. Later that day after a good supper and some excellent wine, Mary heard Gypsy music and later still 鈥榯hey went on to the roof at the Ritz. Mr Matuska danced with me, we had champagne, and Dundi danced simply marvellously, got back about 3am.
Tues 22nd August Went to the Gellert baths again. Peter was there (from the January skiing) very much on the look out for me. He spent most of the day persuading me either to fly back with him or to stay 2 days longer. His family wired for him to come back but he wont. We were photographed and had a fearful time settling up with the girl, left her at last and he said I鈥檇 coped very well. Then he brought his own camera and took lots of photos of me, also of Jean who joined us. Rang Alice up and told her firmly where I was and that I meant to stay with her. Jean asked Peter to have tea with her and he said 鈥淭hanks, well look here, lets all 3 have tea together鈥�. We did and then Peter asked to dance. We left Jean with a book and danced till I felt I must go to Alice. Alice was waiting for me and had got food ready for my journey. We went to a marvellous place high above Budapest and saw beneath us all the lights of this most beautiful city. Then Alice took me to the station and I went off into the night.
Thurs 24th August My train was horribly late at Ostend owing to a thunderstorm which destroyed part of the line. Walked about with the Contessa and had lunch at a little restaurant. Sent a wire to Geoffrey (Keating in London). Luckily a peaceful crossing. Masses of Jews and boat v late starting. Took just 3 hrs. Got to Victoria about 11pm, had just got my luggage out and set off to look for Geoffrey when I saw him. He hardly seemed pleased to see me but I was suddenly very pleased and ran to him gladly. It was too late to do anything, so he took me to my Hotel and said I must send a wire to my mother having failed to get through on the telephone, so we walked together to Victoria and he wrote out the wire. We walked back and all too soon I was saying 鈥榞oodbye and thank you鈥�. He looks ill again and says he is still on a diet. It was so nice to be met and 鈥榣ooked after鈥�. He said I must learn to look after myself. Says war is almost unavoidable.
Fri 25th August Very crowded at Euston but got a porter and he found me a seat. Mumpey and Cowee (family names for her mother and sister) met me at the station, such a long train, it had to stop twice for me. Mump looks so much better and seems quite her old self.
Next day it was straight back into tennis and the usual round of her life at home. Her brother Eric and his wife Dorothy came to hear about her adventures. On 30th August she wrote 鈥楾he situation is very grave. Went to a whist drive and helped at the Patersons. Dr Arthur made a most appropriate and impromptu speech.

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