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Sue Lee was standing in the shadow of the operation building watching the medics carry the doctor from the plane when a corporal approached her. “Captain, someone wishes to speak to you, please follow me,” he said as he briskly turned towards the door.
Sue Lee glanced back to see two big men running after the stretcher-bearers. Their white smocks blew out like wings in the wind. She could only see their backs but assumed one was the sober Scott. She smiled. “That woman has grit,” she said as she turned to follow the corporal.
Sue Lee was waiting in a small office when the corporal returned.
“This way, please,” He said, opening the door.
General Eisenhower dropped the papers on his desk and looked up at the astonished captain standing at attention, saluting, dressed in boy’s clothes with a dirty cap on her head.
“At ease, captain, please sit, I’m very informal myself at times.” He said, smiling. “I wanted to meet you; You have accomplished a great deal in a short time.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to his kind compliment but said, “Thank you, sir.”
“You are due back in England. My transport is leaving within the hour. I’m offering you a ride. Let’s spend this short time together to talk. I would like to know your impression of the French—Spanish underground.” He leaned forward to listen.
At first, Sue Lee hesitated.
Eisenhower laughed, his eyes crinkling kindly. “I assure you, madam, that my clearance is high enough.” He gestured to an overstuffed chair nearby, which she gratefully sunk into.
Relief flooded her as she related her ordeal, starting with Meg and Anna how they’d smuggled her out of France on very short notice after the burning of the records office. As she spoke, she noticed how drained she was.
“Tell me more about the register’s office,” the general said. He’d settled back behind the desk to make notes. As he did so, he never questioned her account, just listened.
“And the underground system that was used for smuggling me out,” she said fervently, “it was superb. There’s even a whole message system that’s disguised as simply taking care of the laundry!”
The general looked up from his notes, his eyebrows raising. “Ingenious!”
He was very interested in Jesus and the network of families throughout Spain that transported spies and Jewish refugees escaping from the Nazis.
“Sir, Jesus is such an unassuming, kindly man using his knowledge of the Pyrenees Mountains to guide families to freedom at the risk of his life. Apparently, also included in that network is the flying doctor who is in surgery as we speak. She too risked her life to rescue me, then was shot during her approach to do so.”
“My staff has been keeping me informed. I’m hoping we will know...” Before Eisenhower could finish, there was a knock on his door.
The corporal stepped in, “We are ready, Sir. Dr. Snodgrass is out of surgery, in recovery, Sir.”
“Thank you, corporal.” He smiled at Sue Lee. “That is good news, her family will be pleased. Thank you for speaking with me, captain. My corporal will show you were to freshen up. I’m sorry I won’t have time to visit when we are aboard. One more thing, my time here meeting with the British is classified.”
Sue Lee stood and saluted. “Thank you, sir.”
Walking with the corporal across the runway, she asked how extensive Dr. Snodgrass wound was. He told her; They took out part of a bullet that had been deflected by the aircraft’s frame, only a piece of it had hit her.
“Thank God, how blood was pooling on the floor of the plane, it looked to be very serious,” Sue Lee murmured before boarding.
Sue Lee looked down at Gibraltar as Eisenhower’s plane climbed higher. She could see the hospital ship and two men sitting out on the deck. She smiled, was that man below the drunken Scott who operated on the feisty doctor? I wonder who the other guy is. She asked herself just before she fell asleep.