Item 02: Arthur John Moore diary, 11 November 1916-11 January 1918 - Page 122

[Page 122]

Mon. Sept 3. Some of our fellows went into St Omer on leave. When they returned we questioned them severely on the amount of damage that was done by Fritz's Bombs. They said that it caught an Officer's Mess & killed 2 airmen officers, but did very little damage considering the terrific row they made. Weather still good. After Tea Towny, Shag, Miles, Woodsy & I played a quiet game of nap for a few hours & I actually won 12 Fs. The Taubes came over & dropped a few more Bombs, but did not do much damage beyond breaking a few windows.

Tues. Sept 4. strike>Gas drill Route march in marching order. We marched down to H.Q. & were then informed that we were to return to our billets & put on all our Gear. This kept the Parade waiting half an hour, but of course, they could not blame us for it. It was quite warm marching & we were always glad of a spell. One good thing about this country, there are plenty of trees to give shelter. We passed through several villages, the largest of them was Heuringhem which is 6 K. from St. Omer. The farmers are busy getting in their crops, mostly women & girls & old men. One must admire the French women for they way they carry on the work during the absence of their men-folk. They have very old fashioned appliances. Most of the crops around here were cut by hand, & the wheat & oats thrashed by a Horse Power machine.