Item 01: Thomas Goodwin war diary, 25 April 1915-22 July 1916 - Page 6
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[Page 6]
however we got ashore in good stile in fact we were the first artillery there We then harnessed and hooked in the horses, and then what a pull, up a bank with a gradual slope about 15 feet. A lot of staff officers of the 1st Division looked on with their mouths open. It was a glorious pull We were on shore ½ an hour. Very fertile country the most noticable thing about it is, no trees, none whatever, goodness knows how the people get on for fuel. Most of the country is under cultivation mostly grain and grape Vines, The only animals I saw there were donkeys and goats. The same as Egypt, poor miserable looking donkeys with heavy loads, struggling along, flogged and abused, Some with heavy men astride of them, You realy wonder how they carry them, little rats of things. After ½ an hour we loaded the pontoons again, the only difference this time was we lead the horses into the pontoon, In the mean time the Naval people, had placed a buoy in deep water, with a rope attached to it, and passed, and made fast on the island, so instead of punting our pontoon out to the tug in deep water, we simply pulled on the rope, acted as a ferry, We made fast to the tug and was towed to our boat about 1 ½ miles away, We then slung our horses, and got them aboard without mishap.