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[Page 35]
16/10/15
Crowds round about dark. All nationalities well dressed Europeans chattering & laughing. Arabs selling sticks and native cloth, postcards &c. Refuse men at camp in dungarees, & water carters. Women in desert sifting refuse straw for grain.
Bed 2045 Long yarn to Bert Curnow
17/10/15
Up and stood to 0450. A raw morning. Carry on 0545. Sent RSM to wake Drummond but found him busy with man with brains blown out. Waited and after he had finished went for usual dip at beach. Cape Gaba Tepe lying green in the growing dawn.
Reinforcements drilling on their flat ground, a few drops of rain. Discussed Pepys and Charles II, Oliver Cromwell &c while walking along. New road takes sudden twist across old, so returning had stiff climb at the "Dirty Dog" up loose sand and rubble. This locality free from sickening stench of decomposition that was so noticeable when we first came to Anzac. No dirty work lately.
Davis "B" Co had top of skull completely blown off by a bullet. If a man gets hit in the trenches he generally dies as the wounds are in the head and the whole brain is often scooped out by a single bullet. The force on impact, at such short range with bullets fired by powerful long range explosive, is disastrous. Shrapnel wounds also severe if catch properly but as rule other parts of the body are exposed to them which gives a man a chance. Body lying on stretcher close to dressing station with only tunic overhead and all the sick parade laughing & chatting round about, taking no heed of what would have been an awe inspiring sight a month or so ago. So mercifully hardened do we get to war's dark side