[Page 117]
At the Base
Wed. Aug. 22nd Weather still good. Did some washing. Getting very monotonous in this Camp. Shall be glad to get back to the old crowd. "Oriss" is working on a Fatigue Party wheeling Barrow loads of dirt about, but I am doing nothing. Staff. Brender & Jack Woodward went away last night with an Artillery draft. After Tea wrote Mrs Pudney & Ruth B.
Thur. Aug. 23 Rained heavily last night & the ground is quite sloppy again. "Oriss" had a nasty fit of coughing during the night & spit up a lot of Blood. He paraded to the M.O. (so called) but, of course, got no satisfaction.
Later Oriss got much worse, & was spiting up clots of Blood. This was no good, so I went to the Orderly Room & asked to be paraded to the O.C. Of course they wanted to know my reason, & when I told 'em, they lived up a bit &
LEFT BASE
"Oriss" was sent away in an ambulance to the Hospital at Havre. It was a Casino & is a fine building, situated on the Esplanade.
After Tea I took a few Cards at House. It rained very heavily & threatened to break up the school, but we stuck it, & I came away winning 10 Francs.
Fri. Aug. 24. Passed the M.O. this morning & marked for duty. We leave with a draft tonight to resume the strafe. Spent the morning fixing up my gear. Wrote a few lines to "Oriss". Had Tea at 3.30. Fell in at 4.15 & marched away with a big crowd of Arty Inf. Tunnellers, Engrs, etc. to Havre Station, where we entrained.
I was i/c of 5 Div. A.M.C. which consisted of Phil Murray & myself. Lt. Slaughter was i/c of the whole party. There were 3 of us in our carriage. We were lucky in getting a carriage as most of the crowd travelled in Trucks.