Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 5]
some to Randwick racecourse, on arrival there we were formed up in two ranks, & Captain Jackson came along & picked so many men out for his company (old H), I was among these, & that is how I came to be in the 1st Battalion, after this was over, we had all our names taken again, & then we went down to dinner I shall never forget that dinner as long as I live, just imagine about 600 men all shouting, & talking at the one time, & some of the language was pretty warm I can tell you, for dinner we had "what do you think" roast beef, no chance, for the tables were laid with big boiled potatoes with their skins on, & great junks of bully beef ho, ho, I thought so this is how things are carried on, eh well that's no good
to me, so I & a few more does a get & goes into town for our dinner, that sort of tucker was going to take some getting used to, after the way I had been living, there was not the slightest sign of any system when first I joined, for things were in a terrible state at that time, for the war had caught the authorities totally unprepared, however after a couple of weeks they began to get in to their stride, & after a little time we settled down to it as well as could be expected.
That afternoon was the 24th August 1914. & from that date my military career started. I went out to see Mr Mitchell at Croydon that afternoon, stopped & had a good yarn with him, & later on I went back to town & stopped at the Peoples