A Ring for a Tanner

Dedicated to military personnel, past and present. Thank you for looking after us. Thank you for keeping us safe.

*****

He felt the kick right in the pit of his stomach and fell to the floor. His knees hit the ground first, then his face thudded on the dry soil. The dust stuck on to his lips and cheek from the heat of the day and the sheen of sweat covering his dirty skin. His throat was parched. He was winded and swallowed trying to catch his breath. The harsh, cutting words of the Japanese soldier rained down on him from above. He had no idea what the man was saying, just that he was angry and that anger was directed at him. Then the rifle butt landed on his head and he was sparked out, lost in a sea of black haze.

His mind had trained itself to compartmentalise the horror of the presence. He could transport himself anywhere he wished to go. Mostly it was back home, back to his love. His thoughts went back in an almost automated way...

He was back in England, the night before he shipped out to the Far East. Harry Rollason was a Lance Corporal in the 1st Leicestershire Regiment, the Tigers. It was November 1939. He could hear his girl, giggling over one of his lame jokes. They had spent a pleasant evening at the pictures watching and laughing at a comedy – "You can't take it with you" starring Jimmy Stewart.

Afterwards they had walked back to his car still laughing at the rats in the restaurant scene. Technically it was his father's car - an Austin Ten-Four but his dad had let him borrow it for the night to take his girl out in style.

Now they were parked up in a secluded spot, out in the country, looking at the stars in the night sky.

"You'll come back home to me won't you Harry?" His girl had suddenly asked, worried that he was going off to war.

She was proud he was going to fight for his country but never the less wanted him safe.

"Of course I will," Harry had promised her, "I'll be home before you know it and then Elsie Jones, I'm going to marry you and make you Elsie Rollason."

And that's how he had proposed, just like that and his wonderful, beautiful Elsie had accepted and flung her arms round him. He had kissed her soundly and she had responded in his arms. He wrapped his arms around her, crushed his mouth to hers and slowly allowed his tongue to invade her mouth.

She had tasted exquisite and he savoured her. She was the most important thing in the world to him. She was an innocent sweet wall flower, a couple of years younger than him and one that he would delight in making a woman. He would wait till she was ready though.

He had told her early on in their relationship, that he wanted to take her to bed but would only do so when she was ready and when she asked him.

She had blushed and told him she could never be that forward.

He had smiled and kissed her breathless. "You will. Your body will tell you." He had told her confidently. "And if you can't tell me, who can you tell?"

She nodded. She trusted Harry and loved him with all her heart.

Harry was not a virgin. He had bedded a few loose ladies along with his friends. The type of woman that hung round with groups of young men, women who would sometimes drink and stay out till the early hours. Maybe it was a way of getting by or feeling some affection.

For whatever reason, these ladies were always willing to drop their knickers for company, a few trinkets or even another drink. Harry, like any man of his age, did not turn down such offers and treated it as a way of learning about sex. He would also read up about the subject where he could.

Sex interested him and he soon learnt that he liked it very much.

He felt a hand tapping his cheeks to bring him round. The harsh sun beat down on his emancipated body.

"Get up H. The Japs will give you another bashing if you don't." A man's voice crept through the fog in his brain.

He opened his eyes and squinted when the sun hit his eyes. Harry ached all over and his head hurt. He looked at the man talking to him and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Damn Nip. That bloody hurt," Harry cursed and his friend, Ron, helped him up to the railway line they were working on. They had a kinship only the constant threat of death could bring.

The Empire of Japan was determined to build a 260-mile rail track which linked Ban Pong, in Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, in Burma. It could easily have had world renowned acclaim as the 8th wonder of the world but instead it quickly became known as The Death Railway as it was built on cruelty and relentless brutality of captured prisoners of war.

60,000 Allied PoWs worked on this railroad - Burmese, Siamese, Australians, New Zealanders, British, Dutch, Americans and Indians to name some nationalities.

13,000 would die through beatings, sickness and injury.

Prisoners worked from dawn to dusk moving earth, building bridges, blasting through mountains and laying track. The work, the hot weather, at times tropical rains and the beatings were relentless.

Water was rationed to one cup of water every day or it came from hand-dug holes in the ground. Food, of course, came in the form of boiled rice, a half cup twice day– usually with grit and dirt in.

If cholera, starvation, gangrene, dysentery, snake bites, over work, bullets or any number of tropical diseases, like beriberi or malaria, didn't claim PoW lives, then the Japanese soldiers were there with their rifle butts only too happy to dish out beatings for some transgression or other.

The Japanese were cruel and unforgiving. They were feared and hated, yet that was probably their intention. Break their enemy, physically and mentally and that would make Japan their masters and conquerors.

Harry had made the unfortunate mistake of using some oil on a rag when he wasn't meant to and he was punished. The beatings were a part of daily life and if by any good fortune, one of the prisoners didn't have one in a 24 hour period, it was classed as a good day for them.

During the creation of Hellfire Pass, where prisoners cut a route through solid rock for the railway, 69 men were beaten to death by Japanese guards.

The Japanese Imperial Army was despised for its brutality. Some days The PoW's would be on the way to work from the prison camps and see heads chopped off and stuck on poles. Sometimes, it was people they knew!

It was harsh, a living nightmare and the men looked after each other as best they could. Some just gave up broken men and got tired of living. Others just accepted what was and had a steel determination to survive. They wanted to return to their loved ones. Harry was one such determined man. He had promised his Elsie and someday, somehow, he would get back to her.

Sometimes, he and his comrades' spoke of escaping, even planned it but they all knew it was futile. They were too far away from anywhere! They were lost in the middle of the jungle, where would they go? Especially in their weakened physical conditions! They would die alone there!

At least if they died here in the camp, their families would know what had happened.

So they worked the rail track and made the best they could of the situation. Their clothes rotted on their bodies, never replaced and in the end, most men had nothing more than a loin cloth covering them. Hard labour, poor diet and limited food caused the weight to drop off the men. Many looked like walking skeletons. They did not carry an ounce of body fat and their muscle just wasted away.

Harry wiped his bony hand across his forehead and looked up into the hot sky, trying to catch some of the faint breeze to soothe his aching head. He felt the lump the rifle butt had caused. It was tender and sore. As he looked around, he saw a Japanese soldier walking his way along the line of working men and got back to it. He dragged another piece of track to lay and his mind went back to that night with his girl ...

Elsie had always sensed he was a man who liked to be in charge and who would look after her. She liked how he would order things, whether it was in a restaurant, at the counter at the local fish and chip shop or just at a shop. He would ask her what she liked or wanted of course before he took over and spoke for her. He would always pay whether it was his own money or money she would give him just prior. He looked after her and she liked it that way. She felt protected and loved and important to him.

They held each other that night in the car and he softly caressed her back and kissed her tenderly.

"I want us to do it," Elsie whispered in his ear when he buried his nose and smelt her hair.

"Are you sure?" Harry whispered back. He knew immediately what she meant.

"You are going off to war Harry. I want you to remember me while you are away," Elsie confirmed, "I'm sure."

"You know I love you." Harry declared.

"Yes," Elsie nodded. "I love you too."

"Then we will." Harry kissed her.

Elsie kissed him back and held him tight.

"I'm going to take your virginity but..." Harry whispered in her ear, purposefully building her anticipation, "not right away."

He caressed her head and looked her in the eyes. "First, I am going to admire your body," he paused then continued, "To look at you," another pause, "Second, I am going to touch you... to examine you and..."

He stalled deliberately building the sexual tension in Elsie. "Third, I am going to bring you to a climax." He let the words sink in, "Only then will I make you a woman."

Elsie's breath was already panting. She could feel her body glow and tingles begin to emanate through her body.

Harry got out of the car, walked round to the passenger door and held out his hand. Elsie knew that if she took it and allowed him to guide her to the back of the car, she would enter as a girl but exit as a woman.

She looked into his handsome face and smiled. She was in no doubt about her decision. She loved him.

She placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her from the front passenger seat. She looked up at the clear cloudless sky. She could see the group of stars called The Plough and the moon bathing them in light and she knew. She knew this was the right decision.

Harry held her for a moment as if in unspoken thanks for the gift she was about to give him. And then he placed her in the back passenger seat. He got in after her and shut the door behind him. The windows were steamed from the condensation caused from the warmth of their breath and bodies inside the car, meeting the cold air on the glass from the November evening outside.

The wet misty windows gave them the privacy required for tender first love and the box shape of the car made it surprisingly spacious for what they intended.

"Undress for me," Harry spoke softly and settled in the corner of the seat. "Slowly."

He wanted to ravish her like an animal but he controlled himself. He wanted Elsie's first time to be special. He wanted her always to remember this moment. And in those lonely moments away from her, he wanted a memory that he could dwell on. Little did he know, how much he would think of this night and how this precious memory would keep him sane.

Elsie swallowed a little nervous and began to deliciously slip out of her clothes from her sitting position while he watched. She was exquisitely slow and when she folded each item and placed it on the front seat, Harry smiled. It was the most erotic thing he had ever seen. Her shyness turned him on and each removed item revealed more of her white skin.

Elsie saw the look in his eyes and felt empowered and sexy. As her confidence grew, her inhibitions and self-consciousness began to dissolve.

Eventually she sat opposite him in her white underwear – a bra, girdle and matching knickers. Like most young girls of this time, her legs had been stained with tea to give the appearance of tan stockings. She wore full toed, black, laced shoes with a square 2 inch heel.

He took her feet in his hands and slowly removed each shoe. Then he unhooked her girdle and as she lifted up, he pulled it down her long beautiful legs. He let the items roll from his hands to fall on the careful pile on the front seat. Then he leaned forward and cheek to cheek he unhooked her full cup bra pulling it free from her arms and moving back as he did so.

He saw and stared at her full pert breasts for the first time. Just beautiful. His eyes lingered to admire her sitting there in just her knickers.

He looked at her knowing this would be the image of her he took with him to war. His beautiful girl sitting nude for him in the back of a car in just her knickers and the promise that it held. She was the image of a fine art nude portrait.

She was breath-taking! Her wavy brown hair curled on her shoulders and the slight nervous smile and expectant look in her green eyes captivated him. Her red lips moistened from his kisses and those beautiful white breasts jutting towards him with hard nipples waiting to be fondled.

His attention was suddenly bought back to the present. Ron the guy who had helped him earlier had slipped and fallen with part of the track. It was hard work dragging it up to where they were laying. Harry went to help.

Harry saw immediately that his foot was at a funny angle and a bone was protruding through the skin. He also saw two Japanese soldiers approaching.

Ron's eyes showed his terror. "Hide my ankle. If they see it, I'm a gonna."

Harry had nothing to cover it with. "You got to get up." He whispered. "I'll try to stall them. Maybe if they see you get up and wave as though it was nothing. They won't come any closer."

Harry went off in the direction of the soldiers but he knew the plan had failed when he heard Ron yell out in his effort to stand.

The soldiers barged past his efforts to draw their attention and went straight to Ron.

Harry had to look away as they beat him to stand and when that failed, they put a bullet in his head.

Harry felt useless and incensed. He vowed if he ever made it through this God forsaken place, that murdering soldier would pay for what he did to Ron.

Another couple of POW's were ordered to take Ron's lifeless body back to camp, where he would be buried later by the men.

Harry dragged another sleeper in place and then the iron rail, Ron had had problems with. He began to secure and piece it together slowly. He said a silent prayer for him and told him he was sorry, he could not do more. The look in Ron's eyes when he first approached him would haunt his dreams forever and reruns of how he could save him would taunt him for a life time.

He picked up a sharp stone and etched the date in the wooden sleeper. He wrote:

"For Ron Fairfax.

When You Go Home,

Tell Them Of Us

And Say,

For Their Tomorrow,

We Gave Our Today."

The words were by John Maxwell Edmonds. He had read them for fallen soldiers in the First War and they had always stayed with him.

It took some time to complete and he had to keep going back to it so the soldiers did not think he was slacking and not working. He finished the roughly carved letters that day though and as they were transported back to camp at least he felt he had marked Ron's passing in the best fitting way he could think of.

That night, Harry lay in his bed on the floor of his shared hut. He missed his friend and didn't want to think of Ron's demise any more. He willed his thoughts back to that night with Elsie...

She made an exquisite portrait. Harry had smiled at Elsie sitting in her nude state except for her knickers in the back of the car. He took her in her arms telling her how beautiful she was and how he was the luckiest man that walked the earth. Elsie wrapped her arms around him and he murmured in her ear that he was honoured for being her first and he was going to worship her body. She smelt of shampoo and soap and he kissed her, breathing her in.

He broke their kiss and cupped her head in his large hands. "I've seen your beautiful breasts, now I'm going to feel and kiss them."

Elsie's eyes widened and he saw her pulse beating in her neck and her breath quicken in anticipation. She was thrilled that she was almost nude and vulnerable and he was fully clothed. That was exactly his intention. He wanted Elsie to be aroused. He wanted him to fill her thoughts. He wanted her ready to accept his hard shaft when he took her.

His hands slowly moved down her cheeks, her neck and collar bone to her full round breasts. He cupped her softness and then felt the weight of them. He squeezed and kneaded and stroked them with both hands. They felt just as he imagined and he took his time to examine them fully and tease the nipples in his fingers.

Elsie gasped and pushed her chest into his hands. No man had touched her there before. She felt him explore her chest. They seemed to swell and ache in his hands. She felt her nipples harden and an ache shoot straight between her legs where it stayed, building to a dull throb. She felt her knickers dampen and her body flush to pinken her skin. She was sexually excited and felt pleasure especially when he moaned and bent down to suckle her breasts.

He licked and lathered each orb with his tongue and suckled her softly at first and then increased the suction on her nipple and aureole, drawing them and her pink flesh into his mouth. He was hard as iron now and his erection was straining in his trousers. He squeezed them and buried his face in their billowing softness. There was not an inch of flesh he had not touched or kissed on her breasts and his mind had thoroughly mapped them into his memory banks.

He continued to massage her breasts while his lips trailed down from her cleavage to the waistband of her knickers. He lowered them to reveal her soft flat tummy and belly button. He spent time kissing her there. He loved a woman's tummy and found kissing her tummy was as intimate as massaging her feet. It was one of those locations that was not classed as a private place but never the less, men who touched and caressed women there were either lovers or potential lovers. He found it erotic and exciting.

He looked up at her and saw desire clouding her eyes.

"I am going to touch you more now." He told her.

Elsie blushed but nodded at him.

Harry moved his hands to her knickers and ran his finger around the waistband.

Her tummy flickered in excitement.

He lowered his head and could smell her arousal. Her gusset was wet and he could see the darkened damp patch.

He licked the area and tasted her through the material.

Elsie started in shock at his actions.

"It's ok," Harry reassured her. "Men like to do this for their women."

Elsie didn't look too convinced but she trusted Harry and soon forgot her misgivings when his tongue and mouth licked her crotch over her panties and caused sensations that made her moan and groan.

Harry was delighted at her reaction and enjoyed her writhing with need on the seat. He pulled her knickers down slowly. His heart beat faster. This was always a special moment for a man!

He enjoyed the curved femininity of her body. His eyes travelled over her breasts again. They were rounded and beautiful. Her shoulders were bare and sexy. Her tummy flat and sensual. Elsie's face was enigmatic and beautiful. Harry saw her breasts rise and fall in her excited state and that the lips to her mouth were slightly parted, wet from where she had nervously licked them. Her eyes glittered with wonder and emotion.

Harry continued to lower her knickers. The dark mound of her sex was exquisitely revealed and showed him the woman she was in all her glory. Harry felt a rush of desire and wanted to be between this woman's legs more than anything.

Elsie's eyes were fixed on Harry, seeking his approval. Harry smiled and nodded and Elsie slowly and deliberately opened her legs. Harry watched transfixed. He saw the lips of her sex and her dark pubic hair. It looked so kissable and lickable but she was nervous and they were not yet open and inviting for him. She was still much like a fine nude art portrait.