Billy Hardy
Billy Hardy was what most people expect a man from Glasgow to be, he wasn’t very tall, he was thin, wirey even, and he kept himself to himself, he had been half buried inside a house when an artillery shell had exploded next to it, he had no idea what had happened to his mates, but he was devastated to have been taken prisoner… he had requested permission to escape but had been told by the ‘escape committee’ that he had been designated number 397 on the escape list … so he went off and sulked for a while, he had been captured at Dunkirk and was going stir crazy, but he bucked up when he heard two guys talking and one had explained to the other that it was every soldiers duty to escape… so he thought to himself, the last 27 that had tried to escape hadn’t gone further than the train station, so the first part of his plan was to avoid the station.. he had gotten himself a little compass and he knew Switzerland was less than 100 miles south east of the camp, but France was only seventy due west… so France was the best bet but if he got the chance of transport south-east he was on it like a flash, but first he had to get out of the camp… there were three tunnels on the go, but he had no chance of getting into any of those, if indeed he had wanted to.. he had managed to steal a white short sleeved shirt from a merchant seaman, but he had left a woolly army issue in its place , now he could be doing with a pair of dyed trousers but he had little or no chance of them, then he saw a pair of navy-blue shorts hung out to dry, he felt no shame letting them dry under his mattress… he couldn’t figure anyway to stock food as the food parcels were harvested by the escape committee for their official escapees but it was coming up to mid summer and he should be able to manage scrounging from the hedgerow and fields, he hadn’t yet considered how to get out of the camp, but so many had already done it so it couldn’t be too difficult…. Then the commandant suggested an Olympic games Germany vs England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales would be separate teams, as would France Holland and Poland , the local town had a sort of athletic track and that’s where the games would be held, the Germans had been training all winter before the commandant suggested the games, we had three weeks to prepare, well as there were only thirty jocks billy knew he stood a good chance of being picked but where might he stand the best chance of escape? There was a black watch captain that took control of the jocks, now billy was a little skelf of a man but hard as nails, so the captain picked him as Scottish feather weight champion, now billy had never been in a ring in his life and knew his chances of escape would certainly be limited [/font]so he approached the captain “sir, I have never had a set of boxing gloves on in my life, but I can run forever” the captain shook his head “your on our boxing team and that’s that” so on Monday night the boxing team met in hut 14 but no billy so the captain sent a sergeant to find him, billy was on his bunk studying a rough map of Germany “oi you, boxing training” billy looked up at him “ach I'm no bothered” the sergeant eyes were out on stalks “get on your feet you horrible little man, did I ask you, well did I” billy was standing by his bed “no sergeant” “well on the double to hut fourteen…hup,,,hup,,,hup” when they got there the captain looked at him “did you forget?” “no sir I don’t want to box, I want to run” “for [censored] sake Hardy you are our only hope of a medal of some sort so you WILL box for Scotland” “begging the captains pardon give me a rifle and bayonette and I’ll fight for Scotland, but asking me to get into a ring to entertain the German [censored], no sir, if you make it an order then I will get in the ring with whoever and as soon as they come near me I'm on the floor” “listen Hardy we have runners, what I need is a wee glesca hard case and that’s you” “well let me run the marathon” the captain looked at him “that’s the last thing on the program do you have any idea how far it is” billy shook his head “its just as far for them as for me” “its over twenty-six miles” “so how far is it for the German” the captain sighed “just the same” billy nodded “aye so I’ll hammer them” the captain shook his head “they have a famous distance runner, he is an officer” billy grinned “all the better then” the captain turned to the sergeant “extra extra rations if hes competing twice” of course billy didn’t do any training, so again the captain sent for him “why are you not training, are you taking this serious? Your representing your country” billy looked at the captain “are you competing?” the captain blushed “well no I'm rubbish at sport” billy nodded “I used to play football for the Boys Brigade and when we did pre-season training everyone was knackered for about three weeks, so I reckon if I train, by the time I need to perform I will be useless, that’s why the Germans have trained since Christmas” the captain sighed “I cant argue with your logic, but cant you do some skipping or something” billy laughed “listen sir, whoever I'm in the ring with will be boxing me, me, I’ll be knocking [censored] out of them, just wait and see, get your money on me” the captain laughed “aye billy, only time will tell” the games were to be over a week each country could enter three contestants in each event [I wonder why] billy was boxing/fighting the first night, he was drawn against the welsh wizard a little guy who had represented wales in the Empire games billy walked to the centre of the ring while the little welsh guy danced round the ring to get there, the ref addressed them in German so neither had any idea what he said then he pointed for them to return to their corners to await the bell, the captain rubbed billys shoulders “I've just put a fiver on you with the welsh trainer, they are already making a box for the medal” billy laughed “don’t tell them but they might just require a bigger box”. The bell rang and the crowd began to shout, Billy walked to the centre of the ring with his hands by his side as the wizard bobbed and weaved around the ring, Billy turned with him facing him all the time, the wizard would bob one way then take a big step the other way, billy was smiling and motioned the wizard closer and waved his right hand at him, the wizard was waltzing closer then that big step in the opposite direction, billy stepped one step away from the dancing feet, then the wizard did two bobs then as he took his big step billy was there and his right hand almost took the taffs head off, he staggered back two steps then his legs gave up and he landed in a heap, the ref directed billy to a neutral corner and counted, the wizard amazed everyone by getting to his feet at eight, the ref looked at him and waved the fight on, billy looked at the welsh corner and pointed to the little welsh guy swaying but he was waved on, so he just walked over and hit him again… the following night he was fighting a pole, who once more was no stranger to the ring, at the end of the first round the captain told him “do you know I scored that even, and I don’t know why, hes knocking the hell out of you” billy grinned “I'm training for the German in the next fight” but by the end of the second he was miles behind, the little pole was boxing him to death the captain grinned at him “I'm glad the poles never offered a bet” billy looked up at him “your supposed to be instructing me, like he jabs twice with his left then launches a big right” the captain nodded “I was just going to say that, so its all over now then, is it” billy nodded as the bell went for the final round, as they met in the middle the pole jabbed twice with his left and Billy took a short step to the side and launched his own right a split second after the poles, the poles skimmed the side of Billy’s head but billy’s landed flush on the exposed jaw…eight… nine … ten… ouse …… billy was now a bit of a celebrity even the welsh team turned up for him… he was warned the German was coming for a knock-out and when he saw the German he knew why, the man wasn’t fit to box, his face was like a butchers shop with a dozen cuts and abrasions “as the captain rubbed his shoulders he said “and look who is reffing it, it’s a walk over for the Germans if you hit the guy he will disqualify you” billy had heard about this ref “so any instructions” the captain shrugged “knock him out as cleanly as you can” as the bell went the German almost ran across the ring and threw a roundhouse, billy ducked it and dug a right into the guys solar plexus the man ended up on his knees in billy’s corner, the ref waved his hands at the judges indicating a low blow, the German got to his feet rubbing his solar plexus well above his waistband, billy pointed this out to the ref who took hold of billys glove and gave him a standing eight count which basically meant billy couldn’t win that round, when they were finally allowed to continue the German again rushed at billy swinging a big right and once more as he passed billy hit him in the ribcage just where his elbow touched his ribs and the guy hit the floor like a wet sack the ref bent over the downed boxer as the timekeeper started banging the canvas in a count, the ref shook his head at the timekeeper indicating the blow had once more landed below the belt, the time keeper was shouting at the ref and the ref leant over the top rope pointing his finger at the timekeeper, the German boxer got up and went over to billy and shrugged, the timekeeper rang the bell to end the round so they returned to their corners, “whats happening billy” “the [censored] refs as bent as a nine bob note” “just don’t hit him below the chin, knock him out that’s all you can do, maybe you can salvage a draw if you knock him out” the bell went and as they reached the centre of the ring billy swung a big right and the Germans eyes rolled as he hit the canvas for the third time the timekeeper started the count but the ref waved his hand indicating no count but the time keeper continued and on ten he rang the bell continuously indicating the bout was over, the German seconds were helping their boxer to the stool and the ref went over and stuck his head thru the ropes shouting at the timekeeper who stood up and chinned the ref who fell thru the ropes then got up and started swinging at the time keeper… half an hour later a different ref called the boxers back into the ring and billy was declared the winner, the German boxer lead the applause… two nights later billy had a semi-final against another German the third German was fighting a Frenchman in the other semi, this was to see who was getting either a bronze or a definite silver medal… it was very equal till the third round when the German head-butted billy, billy ended up on his backside with the German referee feverishly getting to five in three seconds, billy got up and the referee looked intently into his eyes then the ref stood aside and his compatriot came rushing in, billy stuck out a straight left followed by a right and a left hook the German stumbled but the ropes saved him, well they didn’t actually save him they stopped him from falling billy was hitting him with everything then the man slid off the ropes to end up face down on the canvas, the crowd had been on their feet to shout on their boxer but stayed there applauding the two fisted attack that sent their man to the floor… and unbelievably the Frenchman did similar to the other German…. The boxing final was on Saturday evening, and the marathon was on Sunday morning the captain looked at billy “do you know billy I never for one minute gave you a dogs chance and here you are looking a gold medal in the eye, only one obstacle left, and do you know what, he don’t know whats about to hit him, but I think you should forget about running in that race in the morning” billy looked at him “if I can only do one sir then I want to run” the captain nodded “I knew you would say that, but I have to tell you men have died in this race, and you haven’t spent one minute in preparation” billy nodded “I have sir” he tapped his temple “I have run every step sir” the Frenchman was an accomplished boxer who fought a stand up fight pinning billy back frequently, but billy’s tenacity saw him punch his way out of corners and off the ropes, so that when the final bell rang both fighters were near collapse, the result went to the judges score cards and billy won two to one, both men applauded the other then the announcer announced something and the crowd rose as one, even the French contingent looked over and clapped “whats that for” billy asked “they just announced you were running the marathon in the morning” billy laughed “and here was me having second thoughts after that pasting” well billy stood out from the rest if only because of the beauty of a black eye… no one had trained on the course, well perhaps three of them did but they had been driven over it on the back of a lorry and billy had been very happy to notice that they crossed a big road that ran east to west and also a railroad track that ran in a similar direction…. When the gun went off billy hung back letting them sort themselves out he didn’t need anymore elbows in his already bruised ribs, they set off running at quite a pace so billy let them go he just loped along at his own pace he was getting a few cheers from locals as he went and he remembered the rather crackly recording of Scotland the brave as he received his medal, and the lump in his throat as the saltire was raised over both France and Germany as these thoughts were going thru his mind he was aware he was passing runners, now this didn’t surprise him, he knew he could run, but he was going faster than he intended, he caught up with the other two scots one a tall lanky corporal from the Seaforth’s said “take it easy wee man weve got a long way to go” billy nodded “aye I know corporal but I’m no driving, I’m being driven, no doubt we’ll pass again” and on he went at the seven miles mark he was passing the English trio one of whom shouted “on you go wee man if we cant get it we hope you do” billy waved thanks and kept on with his rhythm at nine miles he was passing the leader, a German who told him “not too fast billy the road back is twice as long” at ten miles he was crossing the road bridge but decided that the German was too close for a proper look, the traffic on the road was too buzy to get a ride anyway, he decided he would give it a closer look on the way back another mile and he was at the rail bridge he stopped and looked both ways for any signs of smoke or steam but neither were in evidence the tracks looked shiny as tho it was a well used rail but he couldn’t stop because the German wasn’t far away so off he went again, there was a big crowd at the half way point he had to run in one gate run round a football field and out the other gate, the crowd were great with him chanting billy, billy, then they got louder as billy noticed the German had entered the stadium so billy picked up his pace again to get time to check out the railway and see if any trains were in sight. As he ran back the way he had come he was surprised at the encouragement he got from all the runners then he was there on the bridge just as one of the other jocks came up he nodded at the tracks “they only use them at night billy but a good idea” and kept running, so billy ran on to the road bridge and there he found the lanky corporal collapsed billy took his water bottle from his belt and gave the man a sip just then the German came and he also stopped “help him into a sitting position billy “ as they got him up he opened his eyes “did I finish” the German nodded and said “yes, yes you did, and in a personal best time” the jock smiled “its my first race” the German gave him a drink of his water and said “billy and I have to finish yet so you wait here for your transport” he patted billy on the shoulder “come on they will be on us in a minute” so off they went, after about a mile the German said “you don’t have to wait for me, I just grind out the miles, I have noticed you like to run quickly then slow down so off you go if you want to” billy patted the man on the shoulder “I will no doubt see you in a wee while” and off he went… billy smiled that the German had noticed how he was running because billy hadn’t noticed that he decided to watch the mile markers and ration his rests so he could rest for a mile or so before the stadium. And that’s when it hit him that he was actually racing, he hadn’t noticed that he had mentally given up any thoughts of using the race as a platform of escape… at twenty miles he felt great and looked over his shoulder but there was no sign of the German, the people at the side of the road were cheering him on he knew that he would hear it if the German came in sight, he slowed down and was just jogging along then he heard the crowd roaring, without looking he knew the German was coming so he tried to pick up his pace but found there was nothing left it was as if he was running on the spot his legs were not extending then the German was beside him “don’t worry billy its only temporary, stop for a moment and try and touch your toes that’s it” the German was helping him bend and straighten “there you are billy lets run again” billy’s legs felt so tight “just keep going billy I’m going to try and run away from you but I know you will come again and you are so much faster than me” billy felt his legs easing as he ran but the German was getting away then the German stumbled and fell, billy ran up to him both his knees were skinned and the heels of both his hands, billy took his bottle off and used the last of his water on the Germans knees, then helped him to his feet “one mile my friend” billy smiled “come on” the crowd were going crazy as they hobbled their way to the stadium, then they were inside, the crowd were chanting the German said “its time billy, you go” billy shook his head “we will finish together” the German shook his head “can’t you hear they are coming” billy patted his back “don’t worry about it” the German said “if you don’t start running I will sit down then neither will win anything” the German pushed him “go, billy, go” so off he went the crowd were clapping and chanting “SHOTLAND,SHOTLAND” billy looked over his shoulder and a dutch competitor was charging after him, but again he heard the scratchy recording of Scotland the Brave and ran away from the man and took the tape, then he ran back and shouted the German home in seventh place… you may never read anything in the record books about billy hardy but in 1943 he ran the fastest ever marathon, but never got to fulfil his vast potential as three months after his proudest moment he fell under the wheels of a wagon as he attempted to escape on a train headed towards France…
i am aware the the standing count wasnt in the rules during the war....lol... but they needed a wee rest
