Comfort Women Ch. 01

Heidi nodded almost imperceptibly.

Corporal William Brody and Heidi Baumgartner became lovers and their relationship lasted the entirety of Bill's eighteen month posting to Berlin.

*****

Villawood Montana, 1959

The men could hardly curb their enthusiasm and joy at being in the wide open spaces. For the last five years they had been cooped up in sixteen feet wide by thirty feet long concrete cells with fitted steel bunk beds, a toilet and sink. There was no privacy as each cell was occupied by two inmates who shared each other's farts, snores, coughs and colds and had to listen to the creaking bedsprings as they masturbated.

The boredom was broken only by stints of hard labour, the only recreation being a turn around the exercise yard, reading and masturbation. Some took to religion but none of the six inmates at Villawood were so inclined.

Buddy Flintock and Victor Benning began walking down the road to where they could just make out the drone of a diesel engine. About half a mile down the track they found a brick building that contained a diesel generator and a small backup that would start remotely if the prime mover failed for any reason.

Flintock checked the mechanics and Benning checked the switchboards and power distribution equipment. They found planned maintenance and repair manuals in a small workshop which was soon to become their sanctuary. They would bond and form an alliance over their love of things technical and mechanised and their matching quick tempers despite Flintock being white and Benning being black.

"This equipment is all new and working perfectly," Victor Benning commented.

"Things break. Things need maintenance. Ain't nothin' man made that don't need some looking after," Buddy Flintock stated and Victor Benning nodded in agreement.

"Check this out," Buddy patted Victor on the chest.

They walked over to where the twelve foot fence topped with razor wire ran past the generator house.

"They figured it wouldn't take us long to figure out that if we cut the power to the fence it would no longer be electrified," Buddy got as close to the fence as he cared to.

"But unlike yonder power lines leading from the switch room to the town the fence is fed from another power source," Buddy pointed to two steel towers from which hung the power lines that fed electricity to the fence.

Being the electrician, Victor was fascinated and he picked a long blade of grass out of the ditch and touched the tip to the fence wire.

"Fuck!" Victor dropped the blade of grass and shook his wrist.

"Well we know that fence is live and it aint just for show. Shutting down the generator won't accomplish shit except we will be without power," Victor shook his head.

"Let's move onto the pump house," Buddy pointed to the building that held the machinery that provided the town's water supply.

Victor was dead right. Flagg had realised early in the piece that if the electric fence the Army had built to surround the town was powered by the town's generator the inmates would simply shut down the jenny and the backup and cut the fence. It was uneconomical for Excelsior Mining to run power into the isolated town from the main grid because Villawood was 4.5 hours from a city in any direction.

So Flagg had the Army Corps of Engineers build him his own powerhouse adjacent to his headquarters located some three miles from the town next to the airfield. It provided power to both his HQ and the containment fence around Villawood.

William Brody and his self-appointed clerk checked out the administration building which if the town had not been owned by the mining company and was an 'incorporated' or a 'chartered' municipality would likely have been called the Town Hall.

The main office which Bill Brody had commandeered for himself held the Villawood Rules & Regulations which Flagg had referred to as the Administrative Instruction and not much else that related to 'The Study' the men were undertaking except for the emergency telephone.

The second office was crammed full of useless mining documentation.

"You'll set up in here as my Company Clerk," Bill nodded at the smaller office.

Petty Officer Wesley Meakins was used to being an underling to men who exercised power and command. He was pleased that he would be Brody's right hand man and was secretly thrilled when Bill Brody had referred to him as his 'Girl Friday'.

"We will have a morning parade in the conference room each day during the working week. I'll write up some Company Orders and have you issue them. You will also collect the diaries and bring them to me before you deposit them in the box at the front gate," Bill said.

"But aren't the diaries supposed to be personal and kept secret?" Wesley asked.

Bill just glared at Wesley and Wesley nodded his acquiescence.

"All correspondence and messages left by Flagg's team that box is to be brought to me unopened," Bill stipulated.

Wesley didn't interpret Colonel Flagg's orders that way but who was he to argue with his new Company Commander.

They went out back and found a small car park.

"Well looky there," Bill nodded to an Army jeep; the only vehicle parked in car park.

"Let's go and inspect our new domain Wesley," Bill chuckled and jumped in the driver's seat.

The small town's amenities were laid out in a rectangle around the town square and Sam Steele and Dale Snitterman found the company infirmary because it was clearly labelled 'Excelsior Mining - Company Infirmary'. It was well appointed with a small treatment room, a two-bed ward, a pharmacy and an office. In the staff ablutions facility were three lockers containing lab coats, and nurse's uniforms.

Being a mining town it was expected that there would be accidents both minor and major and as some of the miners would have their families accompanying them there would undoubtedly be the odd family emergency.

Sam flipped through a thick tome labelled 'Villawood Medical Procedures' and from what he gathered was that the medical staff would have consisted of a 'nurse-practitioner' and two ward nurses. All serious cases would be airlifted to the nearest major city whilst the less serious cases would be dealt with locally. The nurse-practitioner would triage the cases when they came in. Sam guessed that would be his job now. He would have to ask Staff Sergeant Brody about using the emergency telephone in the event of a medical emergency.

There did not appear to an ambulance or MEDEVAC vehicle; maybe it would have been located at the mine.

Having finished with the infirmary, Dale Snitterman wanted to take a look at the Cobalt Café. It was located across the square from the infirmary next to the Copperlode Bar. A quick look around the kitchen at the Café was all Dale needed to deduce that he could easily be able to cook up a storm for the six prisoners. They had been surviving on mess hall prison slop for many years and Dale relished the opportunity to cook and serve sumptuous meals. He had no complaints regarding his role as the Company cook.

Next door the Copperlode Bar was a sight behold. It had been seven years since Dale Snitterman had seen the inside of a bar. The well was stocked with liquor, the refrigerator with cold beer and even the ice maker was plugged in and working. Dale pulled the handle on the tap but draught beer was either not available or the keg wasn't connected. He took an icy cold bottle of Schlitz and passed it to Sam and then took one for himself.

They opened the bottles using the opener attached to a lanyard behind the bar, clinked the bottles and drank the contents in a series of long swallows. The beer went straight to their heads and they both held onto the bar for support and then they burst out laughing. Tempting as it was to further investigate the delights of the bar they had a job to do and they made their way across to the supermarket where they found the shelves were filled and the refrigerators and freezers stocked.

"The fresh produce won't last long and we'll need to bury most of it before it goes rotten but I presume I can just put in an order for fresh victuals in the message box at the front gate," Dale Snitterman commented.

They each took a fresh apple and bit into it.

"You can do that through my Company Clerk, Wesley here. I will approve all outgoing correspondence," Bill Brody and Wesley Meakins had just entered the store.

They too marvelled at the abundance of the provisions and each took some fresh fruit to munch on. Sam and Dale told them about the Infirmary, the Cobalt Café and Copperlode bar. Wesley was wide-eyed but Bill just nodded sagely.

"Let's go next door to the department store and meet up with the others," Bill said and they followed him out of the grocery store and into the adjacent Excelsior Department Store.

The store wasn't that big but it was big enough to service the miners and their families. The most striking arrangement that drew their eyes as soon as they walked into the store was two mannequins standing on a pedestal.

The mannequins were authentic: one with blonde and the other with brunette hair. They had lifelike feminine features and were long-legged, big-breasted and slim hipped. They were both dressed in the latest fashions: one in a dark pencil-skirted suit and the other in a fitted dress. Their legs were swathed in nylon stockings and their feet shod in high heels. The mannequins were supported by steel poles fitted to heavy metal baseplates. The poles disappeared between their legs almost obscenely.

The men had not seen a woman for the entire period of their incarceration except for glimpses of wives and mothers through Plexiglas during visiting hours. None of the six had been visited by women except for Benning who had been visited by his mother.

The lifelike mannequins only served to remind the men that even though they had the freedom of the town and would have access to luxuries they had never dreamed of in Leavenworth, they would still have to live without the company of women.

"I bet you could fit into that suit," Wesley Meakins jibbed and pushed Sam Steele in the shoulder playfully.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Sam blushed and pushed Wesley back.

"Enough horseplay ladies. Let's look around and see what we can use. I'm happy for you guys to wear civilian clothing but we parade once a week in uniform so get to finding what you need and we'll meet up at the conference room," Bill ordered and dismissed his team.

Buddy and Victor went straight to the periodical rack to see if they could find any cheesecake picture magazines but it was a family store and all they could find was Like, Look and Men's Adventures magazines. Buddy found some lingerie catalogues which he stuffed down his shirt. Masturbatory aids for late at night. The men were not allowed magazines in Leavenworth just books from the prison library from which had any titillating passages had been torn out or censored.

Back at the conference room Bill had some more announcements to make once he had everyone seated.

"Gentlemen, having made a tour of the town, heard your reports and read the Villawood Rules & Regulations, I have made some decisions," he began.

"We maybe inmates but we are still a military unit and we have been given a mission which is to keep this town running and maintain it to the best of our abilities."

"I'm not sure of the exact nature of Colonel Flagg's experiment or study or whatever the hell he calls it but we're under a microscope here that's for sure. The observations and the entries we make in our diaries are obviously intrinsic to his study so make sure you are honest and forthright when you fill them in and submit them to Wesley."

"We will enjoy the freedom of Villawood of course. After spending so many years in Leavenworth we've earned some freedom but there are rules and regulations and consequences if they are broken," Bill said gravely.

"Why can't we all read the Villawood Rules & Regulations in that binder," Buddy Flintock pointed to the folder on the desk in front of Bill Brody.

"Because I'm in charge and I'll issue orders and you will follow them," Bill growled.

"Wesley will allocate you each a house. As well as your collateral duties it is your job to maintain your house. You have each been allocated specific duties relating to your MOS but there will be other tasks which will require us all to work together."

"Unit cohesiveness and discipline are essential. It would be easy to become lazy, to become drunks, to become uncivilised and that's not going to happen. For that reason we will have a morning parade and we will take our meals together at the Cobalt Café. The Copperlode Bar will be open from 1800 to 2200 during the week and from 1200 to 2300 on weekends," Bill stated and this was met with approval from some and grumbling by others.

"Dale and Sam; you two will be our logisticians and your fist duty is lock away all the liquor securely except for when the bar is open. Sam, hopefully you won't be kept too busy tending to our health so you work with Dale operating the café and the bar when you're not required in the infirmary. The rest of our tasks are self-evident," Bill was ready to wrap things up.

"See Wesley for your housing assignments. My door is always open gentlemen but please make an appointment with Wesley during business hours," Bill did not ask if there were any questions.

As it turned out looking after the town of Villawood was a full-time job. Although everything is the town was brand new, the thirty houses and amenities required constant attention. They locked up the houses that they were not using but they needed to be cleaned and dusted one a month. Lawns and gardens needed tending, streets needed sweeping, things broke and needed fixing and Bill liked to issue orders and assign tasks.

Flagg and his team of observers were surprised at how well the inmates settled into their routines. Except for the once a week military parade one might have thought the prisoners were civilian villagers who took pride in their town.

The inmates settled into their routine and kept themselves busy working in their specialist areas and coming together when group effort was required. Dale took pride in the meals he prepared each day in the café and Wesley and Sam alternated tending bar at the Copperlode.

Life was busy but pleasant after the drudgery and austereness of Leavenworth. The only two things that the men were missing were complete freedom and female companionship. They would stop whatever they doing and look skyward whenever the weekly DC-3 flight flew over to land at the airstrip next to Flagg's HQ.

Solace was found in a bottle at the Copperlode and in masturbatory fantasies late at night alone in bed. The men talked constantly about the lack of female companionship and Bill Brody submitted a request for 'women of ill repute' to be provided now and then for companionship and 'stress relief'.

Flagg wrote back that he was not running a brothel and for the men to concentrate on their duties and keep their thoughts pure.

Six months into the experiment the men were gathered at the Copperlode telling war stories when Buddy Flintock chimed in.

"We went into the Manila as soon as the Marines cleaned out the Japs. Fighting was vicious but I was stationed at Clark and had it pretty good. The Air Force was still part of the Army in those days and the grunts didn't like us being in the rear with the gear but we made the best of it," Buddy Flintock was in his cups and telling war stories.

"We took R&R in Olongapo and boy did we do some fuckin'" Flintock reminisced.

As usual the talk had turned to women and sex.

"I had a cute little princess who treated me right. She was great in the sack but she was also a good companion. I kept her exclusive because some of girls were rotten with the clap," Buddy drew on his cigarette.

"She spoke good English and also a little Japanese but she hated those fuckers. She told me that during the Japanese occupation that she was taken from her family and forced to be a comfort woman. She hated those little yellow fuckers with a vengeance," Buddy motioned for Sam to get him another beer.

"What's a comfort woman?" Dale asked.

"Young women forced into prostitution. The Japs had them everywhere. They'd invade a city and start raping all the women so the Jap hierarchy set up comfort stations where the comfort women had to service the troops; that way the senior officers had control and maintained discipline," Buddy explained.

Bill was also well into his cups and he told the men about the 'zhenshchiny dlya utekh' or 'women of pleasure' that the Russians kept in Berlin. He didn't tell them specifically anything about Heidi Baumgartner; that was private.

"Say what you like about the Japs and Reds; they knew how to look after their troops. A little recreational fucking after a hard day's fighting is good for morale," Victor Benning chimed in.

"Amen to that. You should ask Flagg to send us some comfort women," Dale Snitterman guffawed.

"I already asked him and he denied my request to provide us with female companionship maybe once a week. We'll just have to enjoy the delights of Villawood without the company of women I'm afraid. Sure beats the hell out being locked up in Leavenworth though," Bill studied the end of his cigar.

"Yeah but I could sure use me one of those comfort women," Buddy sniggered and they all laughed along with him.

To be continued.