There was a knock on the tent door, early in the morning. We'd got off a long and heavy OR shift and were suitably unimpressed at a disturbance after two hours' sleep.

"Go away Hawkeye." I muttered.

"Tony, I have a headache, not tonight." A groan came from the other end of the tent.

"Could you tell me where you'd find the doctors?" A voice called from outside.

"I'll get it girls, go back to sleep." I slid off my bunk, and collected someone's robe on the way through. I pulled it on as I opened the door.

"I wouldn't go waking any of the doctors right now, what do you want?"

"One of my mates, shot in the knee, 'bout half a mile that way, I can't carry him, my arm. Can someone come look? He's real bad." I went back into the tent, pulling some trousers on under my nightdress and a jacket on instead of the robe. The soldier I could see in the dim light had a makeshift sling, supporting his left arm.

"I'll take it, we can get a doctor if it's as bad as you say. Kellye, I'm going out of camp, I shouldn't be long." I picked up a med bag, as I tucked the ends of my nightdress into my pants and zipped up my jacket. I stuck a hat on, tucking my hair out of the way. Kellye, sitting up sleepily nodded.

"I'll let them know if you're not back. Good luck Annie." She flopped back onto her pillow. The soldier, who introduced himself as Dwayne and I went for a little walk.

"Strange, I swear ma'am he was right here." There was blood on the ground where Dwayne motioned, but that was all. We'd walked the appointed half- mile and were now looking curiously around for 'Fishy' as Dwayne insisted on calling the man.

"Well, he can't have gone far. Though we've been fifteen minutes in coming. We can look around, I won't be missed for an hour." I'd barely finished speaking when I realised that someone had jumped on me and I was falling under them. I felt a crack as I landed on my shoulder and I was blindfolded before I had a chance to move.

From the scuffle to my right I assumed that Dwayne had been similarly ambushed and I was dragged roughly to my feet, a voice shouted an order and pushed me forward.

I stumbled, and was yanked back to verticality. A sharp word was spoken in my ear and I was pushed forward. I heard more voices but I understood very little as I only spoke the dialect of Ouijonbou, and I gave up trying to follow the rapid conversation.

I was stopped and forced upwards and onto a truck. My blindfold was removed and my hat was knocked off, and my hair fell down my back. There was a shocked silence before I was shoved into a seat along the side of the truck and the rest of the men were thrown in. We were locked in the back and the engine started on a very rough journey, throwing us around at every corner or bump.

"Lady, what're you doing here?" One of the men asked. We were alone, our captors were riding upfront. We had no idea where we were as there wasn't even a window.

"I came with him. I was trying to find his friend who'd been shot." I was thrown forward, landing on my shoulder, and I became sure that it was broken.

"You right lady? And call me Harry." Harry who I guessed was in his forties was older than the rest, most who looked about eighteen to twenty-five.

"It's my shoulder, I'm Annabelle." I propped my shoulder in a better position as the truck hit a bump and we all were tossed around. This continued for another hour or so.

"Korea has the worst roads!" Harry chuckled as he helped me to my feet. No sooner had we regained our balance the truck stopped and everyone piled towards the front, my bruised shoulder receiving a further beating.

The back of the truck opened after about five minutes waiting. We were dragged out, and then made to walk ten miles, before coming to a North- Korean POW camp.

After twenty minutes of being screamed at by an officer, a man took down our names. He did a double take when he reached me. His superior officer barked an order at him and I gave him my name, rank and outfit, which he wrote down dutifully.

He then ordered us to remove any items of value, and I was thanking god I had left my engagement and wedding bands in the nurse's change the previous day. I had been too tired after OR to bother getting them. My watch went, but our dog tags stayed. If I had been wearing my bars, they probably would have been taken too.

"You are now prisoner of war." He informed us. "You must do as told without struggling, if you do you will be punished. Anyone trying to escape will be shot immediately. You girl, come here." I was dragged towards the CO, two armed officers guarding me closely. The rest of the men were pushed away.

The CO was a very tall man and towered over my 5'2". He looked me over, before rubbing his hands together.

"Come!" He barked, and I followed him into his office. The door collected my injured shoulder and I bit back a yell of pain. The man stood behind his desk, and ordered the officers to leave, which they did hastily. He took a seat and stared at me.

"You, girl, can help in kitchen." He called his men back in and gave them some instructions. None-too-gently they pushed me from the room, and knowing my shoulder was sore, made use of my weakness.

"Wait, girl!" The CO called and I was pushed, by my right shoulder, into the room.

"Yes?" I said softly, through gritted teeth.

"You must be a nurse?" I nodded. "Good, we have men here who are hurt, you will help them?" It was not a question, but an order and I saw no sense in arguing, as he came around the desk and looked me right in the eye.

"Yes, but I will need supplies." I said. He nodded curtly.

"You will only get what you need, you must have patient there, before you can get our supplies. You start tomorrow. Pak will show you to your cell." Pak showed me to my cell, physically, using my shoulder to prevent me from struggling.

The damp little room had stairs going down into it, I accidentally caught my foot on the top and Pak yanked me by my jacket back up. He started screaming at me, and brought his fist crashing into my face and threw me down the stairs, where I lay in a heap while he slammed and locked the door.

"Annabelle?" It was Harry, but it was a few more minutes before I was fully conscious. I spat out some blood; but I hadn't broken any teeth as I'd first thought.

"Oh, my head." It throbbed after the headfirst fall dirt. I sat up, aware of the pain in my shoulder and arm. As well as my shoulder blade and collarbone, I was fairly sure that my humerus was broken too.

"Let's get you up." Harry helped me struggle up and away from the steps. "What's your fate?" He asked as I collapsed, the pain from a broken rib making it hard to talk.

"I have to treat his men that are hurt. What about you?"

"Staying here alone all day, except for when you're in here. Do you speak Korean?"

"Yes, but really only the dialect near my unit."

"Don't let on, they could think you'll try to eavesdrop. Take your jacket off, I'll look at that arm okay?" He helped me out of my jacket and as we eased my right arm free it was all I could do not to cry out.

"Ow, ow, in the name of all things unholy, what incredibly vengeful god did I piss off to deserve this?" We finally got my jacket off and I sat there in my nightgown.

"Here, this should help." Harry took off his shirt and tied it into a makeshift sling. It helped a little and there was nothing to do but wait.

"Where're you from?" Harry asked, the pain was getting worse and he was trying to distract me.

"Maine, I grew up in Portland. What about you?"

"Wyoming. Josie is my missus, Catherine, Marcus and Patricia are my kids."

"I got 14 siblings, my twin's KIA, and five others are out here, as nurses or soldiers. The rest are at home, two I haven't even seen, they were born while I was here."

Harry sighed as the guard, Pak, opened the door and called roughly for me. I dragged myself to my feet and up the stairs, my sling stopping my arm from bouncing.

"Come!" Pak spoke one word in English and dragged me to a rough hospital where the CO, waited outside.

"Girl, one of my men is shot. You help him." I was forced into the building where a dark OR was set up. It was a femoral artery perforation and required quick work.

"You have all the supplies here. I will watch you to see you work." The CO told me, I could hardly see, and I asked for some better light. A curtain was opened and sunlight flowed onto the patient.

"Sutures, scalpel, clamp, morphine and sponges." I saw the things I needed, and slipped my arm from the sling, trying to ignore the pain as it now flopped free.

"Why do you wear that?" The CO asked me.

"My arm is broken and it is hard to work with." I explained, giving the patient a dose of morphine.

"Well, you can get bandage after to put on arm, now work."

I set to work, opening the wound further. Working alone and with a broken arm was hard, but I slowly removed the bullet and stitched the whole thing closed.

"Done, he must rest for at least a week." I explained as I closed the wound.

"Good, now you can bandage arm, I will still watch you." I wiped my hands clean on my pants and got a bandage. Interested, he watched as I strapped my arm to my side, leaving everything below my elbow free so I could still use my arm.

"Pak will show you to your cell, when we need help, we will get you." The CO walked out, and Pak walked in, and took me by my shoulder. I cried out and the CO turned. He shouted an order at Pak. Less roughly he took me to my cell, where I was thrown down the stairs. I heard his laugh and the door slamming before I passed out.

I woke with a start as someone kicked me in my gut. It was Pak. "Come!" He dragged me to my feet. I realised that my face was bruised from being thrown down the stairs twice but I didn't have time to reflect as he shoved me up the stairs.

"Help him." I was instructed, and dazed, I looked his arm over. I turned to the CO.

"It's broken, do you have plaster?"

"We are not hospital, what we have is all you see." The CO told me shortly.

"Can someone get me two sticks about ow, this long?" I motioned. Pak was ordered out and returned with two pieces of wood.

"Is that good?" The CO asked as I took the wood.

"Even better." I strapped the arm into a splint and gave my suggestions for recovery.

"You will help in kitchen and clean now." I became his personal maid. Days merged into nights and nights merged into days as I cooked and cleaned for him. I was forced to sleep in his quarters, and he had his way with me whenever he wanted. Had I been healthy I may have been able to fight him off, but I was too bruised and weak.

The CO seemed to like me and Pak resented that, so every chance he got, threw me down some stairs or had a punch at me. He taught the other guards to hate me too, and if ever they escorted me, they were as rough as possible, throwing me down stairs, or tripping me over and kicking me until I struggled up again.

My arm was still painful, but I was allowed a tiny shot of morphine daily, which was enough to take the edge off it. The CO favoured me, I knew that, but he still allowed Pak and the rest to beat me.

"When you're finished there, you will sweep my office." I was told shortly.

"Yes." I replied from where I knelt by his bed, trying to drag on my clothes that were torn to near shreds. He left for his office as a telephone call came through and I followed him, after I struggled up.

Pak saw me and had a kick at my kneecap, bringing me down again and he kicked me maliciously in the ribs a few times before dragging me by what was left of my clothes to the CO's office. I began sweeping, using the broom to keep myself vertical.

"Girl, you will be going back to your hospital, we are doing a trade. We will get twenty-five of our men for you or they will attack and get you by force. You were good, you didn't cause trouble."

"Thankyou." I whispered and finished sweeping the floor dizzily.

"Your men come tomorrow morning. Now go to kitchen and help clean pots." I was allowed to wobble to the kitchen alone but not before Pak had taken a few good blows to my face. I began cleaning the pots and pans, scrubbing them tiredly. I was on the last pot when behind me door opened and the CO stood there.

"Finish pot and then report to me." He left.

I hobbled back to his office. I knocked before entering and fell through the door.

"You can have rest of day off, you will spend it in my quarters." He escorted me there. "Sleep girl."

Weakly I fell inside the door and took myself to my usual corner, I curled up there when he put his head back in. "On seat." He motioned to a sofa and I crawled to it.

"Thankyou." I whispered as he closed the door. Exhausted I fell asleep and didn't wake up until Pak dragged me off the sofa the next morning.

"Come!" I was taken to the kitchen where I was given a meal of vegetables. The CO watched to make sure I ate and after giving Pak an order, left. After eating Pak, rather roughly escorted me to the CO's quarters again, pushing me through the door.

"You are important, if you do not look well, we will not get our men. You may bathe and dress here. I will watch to see that you do not try anything." He gave me a basin of hot water, a sliver of soap and a cloth. Painfully, I stripped and tried to clean off some of the dirt. Soon the water was brown and the soap gone, but I felt a little better.

It gave me a good chance to look at my battered body. You could see all my ribs, most of me was a purple bruise with varying shades of yellow, blue or black and dried blood, not just mine but sometimes my patients', streaked my legs. My right arm hung limply, and in my emaciated state, you could clearly see the break in my clavicle.

"Here, dry yourself." He threw a towel at me and I rubbed my painfully dry. "Dress." He threw a Korean native dress at me, and after a bit of fiddling I got it on okay.

"You will come in my car, they want to see you alive before I get my men." He told me, holding the door open for me. I limped out, being a little cleaner and reasonably well fed I felt stronger and I climbed into the car. It was a more comfortable ride than the truck I had taken into the camp.

We drove for hours without stopping and it made me sleepy. "Don't ask questions; just do as you are told." I was ordered suddenly, jolted from my weary stupor.

"I won't." I promised sleepily. I had no idea where we were, or where the camp was so I couldn't have told even if I needed to. I was allowed to drift off then.

"We are there, wake up girl." The car stopped and I was helped out, we were in Panmunjon. A little way away I could see the olive-drab uniforms of American soldiers and a group of closely guarded POW's.

"Walk girl. You are safe now." His order was short as he guided me to the MP's. I showed them my dog tags. Satisfied, the POW's were handed over and loaded into the back of a truck.

"Can you walk ma'am?" One of the MP's asked.

"Yeah." I mumbled, as he took me by the arm.

"There's a chopper here ma'am, you will fly to Kim-Po. There will be someone from your unit to get you there. They put up a hell of a fight to get you back ma'am, you must really be important to them." I was lead to the chopper and helped in.

"Best of luck ma'am." The MP's stood back as the chopper rose into the sky. Before I knew it I was back in Kim-Po.

"Holy Toledo! Cap'n Pierce, ma'am, come with me, I've got a jeep here for you."

"Klinger, thank god!" I threw my arms around him, crying out at the pain that my movent caused my shoulder. I had not had a shot of morphine since the previous day.

"Holy Toledo, what happened to your face?" Klinger helped me slowly to the jeep.

"One of the guards really didn't like me because his CO did. He took a belt at me whenever he could, ow, watch it. I got a cracked rib or two there." I doubled as Klinger bumped the ribs that had been broken in my regular falls down stairs.

"Cap'n, I'm going to lift you. There's morphine in the jeep. Sing out if it hurts." Everything hurt but I clenched my teeth as Klinger carried me outside. He put me in the jeep and gave me the med bag. I found the morphine and I injected myself. We started moving and every bump shot pain through my broken bones.

"God Klinger, you don't know how good it is to see you, how long have I been away?" I asked biting my swollen lip as a particularly large bump threw me around.

"18 days. Kellye said where you'd gone and all we found was the med bag and blood. No one's slept a wink since and Potter's been calling everyone trying to find you. He handed it over to HQ, and they said they'd take it. Then they called this morning so I was sent up here to come and get you. You've got the whole camp upset; Sidney had to come down, you were officially MIA, and half the camp's convinced you're dead."

"Ow! Slow down!" Klinger's driving came on a par with Radar and Hawkeye's - terrible and another bounce bruised me further, if that was possible.

We talked a little, mostly about what had happened to me and then I fell asleep again. A shell woke me up at about the same time as Klinger's swearing.

"Ma'am hold on! We're going straight in!" We were about a mile from camp and Klinger hit the throttle and we shot forward, narrowly missing a shell before racing into the compound and almost collecting a very sleep-deprived nurse.

"Let's get you in ma'am." Klinger thumped on the horn, and then the brakes, throwing me around some more. He lifted me again as Potter and Hawkeye ran up, closely followed by the entire camp.

"Set me down Klinger." He did that slowly and everyone stopped dead as they saw the thin, starved figure. There was a shocked silence at the sight of my swollen face.

"Come on, she needs medical attention immediately, move! Stretcher!" Margaret woke up suddenly, and brought the rest of the camp back to life. I don't remember a lot after that, except for demanding a local anaesthetic and being given a general.

I woke up in Post-Op; I was in an upper body cast, to set my arm, collarbone, and ribs. I couldn't move, and the whole thing itched like hell.

"Doctor!" I called softly and Hawkeye's head lifted from the desk where he dozing.

"Beautiful! Thank god you're alive! He kissed my face all over. "I was so worried, I didn't sleep at all while you were gone, I missed you so much. I'll kill those bastards myself!" He'd taken my still bruised face into his hands and was studying me intently.

"Am I okay? Is everything functioning?" I asked, worried the bashing I had taken from Pak may have done some serious damage.

"Five cracked ribs, fractured humerus and clavicle, bruised organs, but you seem to be functioning. They took hell out on your kidneys, you've been urinating blood. Lungs and heart quite okay, you're lucky there. Malnutrition and dehydration on the dietary side of things. I'll kill the bastard who raped you!" He began crying to think I was hurt that badly. I found my left hand was not in plaster and I stroked his hair softly.

"Hawkeye, let's go, let Annie sleep." Margaret came and gently removed him. "Thank god you're okay." She added softly. As I saw him clinging desperately to the compassion she radiated, I realised just how big the hole I had left in the camp was.

I was allowed out of bed a few days later, into a wheelchair and chauffeured around the camp. I went to lunch that day, and told everyone exactly what happened, every detail that I could remember. Sidney told me that if I was as open and graphic as I could be, it would be easier for me to recover.

"Annie are you staying?" Lori asked as I finished my story. Colonel Potter had offered me a discharge as soon as I was well, and everyone expected me to take it.

"Yes, as you know I was offered a discharge, but I'm not taking it. I can make a full recovery here and keep working. You know the only thing that stops me from working is being asleep and I've already been trying to help around Post-Op."

It took a few seconds for them to react, clapping wildly and coming to hug me. It was hard, but with my left hand and less bruised lips, I was able to hug and kiss them all.

"Ma'am, you're crazy!" Klinger laughed, as I reached up to hug him. "You really should get a Section-8."

"Bless your hairy Lebanese heart. Thankyou Soon-Lee." I laughed as Soon-Lee gave me with a bouquet of wildflowers and whispered a Korean blessing in my ear.

I spent most of April recovering, and I was out of the cast in early May, I'd lost a lot of weight, but my bruises had gone and I was under orders never to leave the compound unless I had an escort. I laughingly accepted this, and was in the process of begging Hawkeye to take me for a walk when I got my first lot of wounded since I was kidnapped.

"We got enemy soldiers here." The bus driver told us as we opened the back of the ambulance. I recognised the first soldier I came across. It was Pak, but I kept quiet and checked him out. He was desperate and he was sent into the OR immediately. The CO of the camp was there too, and awake enough to recognise me.

"Girl, you good, you treat me." He reached towards me as Igor and Klinger lifted the stretcher. I was surprised, but not half as surprised as the rest of the camp.

"Put him down on the grass, let me see." I checked out the wounds, reasonably serious, but easier than the ones I had treated under his command.

"Colonel Potter, requesting permission to take the patient." I asked, while the man clung to my hand, refusing the touch of anyone else.

"Permission granted, but permission is also granted to get your caboose into my office afterwards." Potter shook his head, mystified as Klinger and Igor carried him into OR.

I scrubbed up, and went into OR, Hawkeye had just started on his first patient, Pak. My patient was refusing the mask, but calmed down once he saw me.

"It's okay, trust me." I said and he was under. I began operating, grateful for the better light, better equipment and better atmosphere. He pulled through okay, but Pak, after surviving surgery, went into cardiac arrest and died before Hawkeye could get to him.

"Thankyou girl." My patient, Kwang as I learned his name to be, touched my face as we loaded him into the ambulance; he was healthy enough to be moved to a North Korean hospital. "Wait!" He called before I slammed the door. I climbed into the back and went to him. He pulled off his ring, a gold band with a Korean symbol on it. "Buy new watch." He wouldn't take it back, no matter how I protested and I got out of the ambulance and slammed the doors. The bus moved off and Potter came up to me.

"Girl, you better start explaining."

"He was the CO of the camp I was kept at. The man who had the heart attack was the one who hated me, Pak." Colonel Potter looked amazed.

"You really do beat all child, first you turn down the chance to go home and then you forgive and forget. You really are insane!" He laughed as we went towards my tent.

"Buy you a drink Colonel?" I offered.

"Might as well, what's your mum sent this time?" Mum had been sending me some very good alcohol lately.

"Brandy." I smiled as Colonel Potter stopped suddenly, taking me into his arms in a big, tight hug.

"God, you do beat all and you're quite obviously more cuckoo than a cuckoo but it's good to have you back!"