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[Page 20]
April 1916
had two baths & changes of underclothing. At Reveille was at 4.15 am on the 20th & we had to get ready to move off which we did about 6.30 am. We marched as far as Saille where we billeted for about 5 hours & then we had to move off again. We passed through Saille which has been bombarded at an earlier date & after walking about two miles past Saille we came under the Artillery fire & observation of the enemy. We had to advance in the dark in artillery formation & reached our billeted occupied by "C" Company 9th Batt with out any loss. That day this billet had been hit by a shell & also other billets & the 9th Battalion had seventy five casualies that day. The next day being Good Friday it was celebrated by big gun fire all day & we were shelled on all sides by neither our billet nor any men were hit. Air duels were very frequent & we could see the enemy blowing several villages to ruin. That night we moved back toward Saille to another billet which is not so open to observation by the Aliens. During the night of the 24th I was detailed off with a fatigue party to go to the trenches. We set out under cover of night & on reaching the firing line was informed that our duty was to enlarge the sand bag parapet. This was my first experience of