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[Page 579]

he was loudly talking about the terrors of Gallipoli till at last his bragging was successfully & permanently stopped in consequence of the not too politely expressed remarks of a man, "Long" B[dash] who was known to have been present at the holding of the line just after landing & who also was present in the "Lone Pine charge" with the 4th Battn & he declared it was well known that after coming back invalided to Egypt he volunteered to go back to Gallipoli & he went.

On the departure of the battalion for France he was wounded in one of the early battles (probably Pozieres) was sent to "Blighty" & when there stated "No power on Earth would ever take me back to France the second time". So you can put that in your pipe & smoke it!

Naturally such a candid expression of personal feeling called forth most hearty laughter. However the "dummy" Sergeant gave up talking "Gallipoli experiences"

At Wareham by some means unfathomable a man whose rank was only a bugler managed to force himself into the position of Warrant Officer on the Staff in Charge of the Camp. He sported an officers belt, put on airs, but confined himself very closely to the Staff orderly room.

At the same Camp one of the Company Sergeant Majors was known to be a private & in one row of huts every corporal in charge of a hut & wearing stripes, was "bucksheesh"! (self) appointed.

At Monte Video Camp Weymouth, the Sergt Major & the Artillery Corporal were both privates & looked more fit than any of the men they were trying to bully.

This sort of thing did not tend to increase the respect for officers under whose supervision such glaring cases of maladministration were frequent, & increasing.

However with the departure from such an environment to London the feeling of complete freedom was wonderfully satisfying &

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