Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 35
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[Page 35]
unpleasantness. The men were forbidden to use the promenade deck, except when on duty, this was reserved so that officers could play deck quoits & have their lounges brought on deck; all concerts Boxing Tournaments were stopped & men had to huddle together on the hatches & in the passages on the main deck.
Shortly after leaving Colombo a bathing parade was ordered. Instructions were issued for every man to be on deck at 6.30 with a towel only, to be hosed down by the crew. This was a wise enough decision, but the crude way the matter was handled & the peremptoriness of the order brought about a blank refusal on the part of every battalion excepting the Light Horse who alone went through the performance.
It was noticed that some few men would never take a bath & the parade was ordered to see that these men were washed all over, but the order caused not only these but every other Infantry man to refuse to obey point blank.
No Horse or Mule Act for them!!!
Had the officers of each Company said to the men that in lieu of having drill we are going to try & have some fun by having a splash about on deck, the majority would have been only too willing to join, a suggestion then in a jocular manner to them, to seize all who held back would have gained the purpose in a jovial way by sheer weight of numbers.
As it was the whole of the officers had to stand by, looking very sheepish, feeling as if they had got a severe smack in the face. One good thing that the men really enjoyed was that after this incident all drill was stopped the time being spent in listening to lectures delivered by officers, from trench work to good behaviour; thus the men