John McGregor - 'A short history of the 18th Batt. 1st A.I.F. 1914-1919' - Page 7

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sergeant who was going on 14 days leave to England the following day. After we moved forward from reserve his leave was temporarily cancelled. He went forward with the Battalion and paid the supreme sacrifice.
After being relieved we went behind the line to a village called Vignacourt for a spell for a couple of weeks.
On November 10th 1918 routine orders were posted at night at HQ that we were to move back into the line in battle order the following night. However next morning we were instructed to fall In at the village square at 10am in fatigue dress. The colonel arrived at 11am to lnformn us that our troubles were over and that the war had finished.
At Vlgnacourt there had been a field hospital and a huge cemetry of war dead was there. After lunch we had a memorial service there accompanied by civilians for miles around. Following that we went looking for grog and unfortunately a few got drunk.
Vin Blanc was about all we could get and not much of It. We left Vignacourt and set off on a march to become the army of occupation in Germany. I remember on the way our Colonel halted the Battalion and pointed out where the Battle of Waterloo was fought.
We had almost reached Bonn in Germany When we were ordered to go back. It was said that the Prime Minister of Australia would not allow Australian troops into Germany. He wanted them all back home as soon as possible. Months ran into years before he got his wish. Not enough ships could be procured to allow that to happen. We marched back until we reached the town of Walcourt not far from Charleroi, Belgium. There we stayed until the numbers were gradually reduced as troops were sent to England and home.It was April 1919 before I left for England where they found I was medically unfit for service, "not due to misconduct" and sent me home on a hospital ship.
During our stay at Walcourt we had to march many- miles to be reviewed by King George V and also the Prince Edward of Wales. It was the first long march we had had wearing only a belt and not the usual 60 pounds of weight.
I arrived home about the middle of 1919 and was an outpatient at Randwick before discharge
Conditions at Gallipoli were appalling. The only food was tin- beef and hard biscuits. Our only pleasure was a dip in the Agean Sea. We were that homesick we marked the town, city or suburb we were from in indelible pencil on our hat bands in the hope to meet men from other units who lived near our home in Aussie.
In France when relieved from front line duty we met civilisation even though we could not speak the language. Our own food was much better than theirs but we were overrun with vermin. During the whole time we would have a bath about once every 3 or 4 months, given a change of underclothing and then back to sleep in lousy blankets In lousy barns and billets. We lived in our uniforms day and night, especially in winter for months on end.
On arrival in France in 1916 each Company had its own cooker drawn by two horses. When horses got scarce two mules were given the Job. Our Company cook named Mick was a real hard case. He drove a horse cab at Manly prior to enlistment. He would often say, "wish I was down at the village pub (Ivanhoe) on the Corso blowing froth off a pint." He was a great scout. He went out of line to the back areas to bribe the farmers family with chocolate and cigarettes for potatoes and other vegetables to add to our food supply. It all had to be done on the sly as it was a serious offence for farm products to go anywhere except to French Army authorities. He also had a way of buying whisky from