Item 02: Arthur John Moore diary, 11 November 1916-11 January 1918 - Page 133

[Page 133]

Mon. Sept. 24. Reveille at 6 Break. at 7. A sec. went into the Line last night. B sec. went to the A.C.S. along the Menin Rd. & did Fatigues. Collecting Petrol Tins & burning them out for water. It was a glorious day & there were hundreds of planes about. We had dinner about 1 oclock & after a spell resumed the "cleaning up" operations. C section came out to us, but were sent out to the Line with Blankets & stretchers. Fritz put a number of shells over near us, but none of us were hit. Some of our crowd were carting away the clothes of Gassed Patients & Bricky is loaded with souvenirs. They say the stunt is not coming off till Wed. morning. We returned to our quarters in the redoubt about 6.30 & found that B sec of the 15th were all down with diarrhoea.

Menin Road

Tues. Sept. 25. Turned out at 4. Break at 5. Then we went out to the A.C.S. along the Menin Rd. We left for the Line about 6. The road was teeming with Traffic & looking straight down the road was one of Fritzs Balloons. An A.A. Gun was passing along & we were going in single file down past it, when a shell lobbed right alongside it. When the smoke cleared away we picked up poor old Phil Murray. He was riddled with shrapnel & was just alive, but he died just as he reached the dressing station. McGoldrick got a knock in the back, & Mole got one in the arm. Dickson was also wounded. It's a wonder they were not all killed. After a little delay we resumed our Journey. I must say that most of us "had the wind up". Fritz put a few more shells in the road as we passed along, blowing up 5 motor lorries & a number of horses, but very few men were hit which was very remarkable.