大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from London Volunteers on behalf of Ernestine James and has been added to the site with her permission. Ernestine James fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I met my future husband in 1936 at a ball in the country. We fell in love immediately. He was sent to India. We met again in 1939, then he proposed to me. I had a telegam on my birthday: "Let's get married." We started in the Hague on 24th March, 1940. By train to Brussels for the night and the following day lunchtime in Paris. Then the night train to Milan to pick up the Rapido to Naples. The following day by DC1, a 16 seater. There were 9 passengers and it was a very thirsty aircraft. We had lunch in Athens, spent the night in Alexandria and had breakfast the following day at Lydda. The pilot invited me to come in the cockpit to see Jerusalem. He flew three times over Jerusalem pointing out the different places. I stayed in the cockpit until Baghdad where we had lunch and overnight in Basra. Then lunch at Jask in the Persian Gulf, tea at Karachi where an officer of the Indian air force welcomed me. My fiance met me at Jodpur where we were guests of the Maharajah but we didn't meet him. Then my fiance flew me highly illegally in a military aircraft to New Delhi and I had to push the button while he swung the propeller. Very dangerous. Arriving at New Delhi a very anxious air force officer told me to get out very quickly and he taxied it to the military part. In the evening during a cocktail party with the air marshall I sat next to him and he asked me "Nini, did you enjoy the trip from Jodpur to New Delhi?" I said, thank you very much, sir.

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