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[Page 116]
Things were soon bust in getting the men away as soon as ships were available to take them & as each boat roll was issued, the men who were included would rejoice, whilst those who were omitted would endure their hard luck in silence. I waited my chance & as soon as it came I had my name included on a boat roll, then waited patiently until orders arrived to prepare for the homeward journey, also making the best of time in the interval in having final looks round the city, for I understood that I might never see England again. The long looked for orders to pack up & get ready for home came on the 8th of December, which of course did not take very long to complete & that sane afternoon all spare bag had to be stacked ready for an early start next morning. That night knowing it to be my last at Weymouth I went into the city to say good-bye to several friends which I had made during my stay here & had rather a pleasant evening. Those who were going home were up bright & early next morning at 4 A.M. when shortly afterwards the party was fallen in for a roll call of every man followed by an issue of rations to last twenty four hours to each man these two duties taking about two hours to complete.
Homeward bound
At 7 A.M. on the 9th of December 1918 our party left Westham Camp Weymouth starting on the long journey home to Australia. The march to the Railway station was soon completed when the troops were put straight aboard awaiting train & after half an hour wait the train steamed out thus saying good-bye to that city for perhaps the last time in my life. Late that same night the train pulled right down on to the wharf at Keydocks Devenport where we were soon aboard the "Good Ship" S.S. Somali which was to carry us across the trackless seas to the Sunny Land of the South. As every man went aboard he was given a bag of Red Cross Clothing consisting of underclothes, socks, & Pyjamas, then allotted to quarters which were to be retained throughout the voyage. I managed to secure comfortable quarters aft among the other sergeants but at the same time I would quite satisfied to be put anywhere as long as I was on the way home. The ship lay in the Docks all night & after a much disturbed slumber owing to excitement, the troops we up early impatiently waiting for the ship to get under way. Things began to get busy after breakfast for the ship was untied gangways pulled up, then the ship started to make its way out of the dock by means of capstans used for that purpose. Before leaving the docks we passed several Battleships whose bans played all the popular songs finishing up with "Auld Lang Syne", the crew also giving "Three Cheers" which was answered by the boys aboard our ship. It took over an hour for us to get out into the stream where the propellors started to move, the ship gradually finding its way out through Plymouth Harbour. The feeling to be homeward bound also seeing the last of Old England was absolutely indiscribable, but once outside the harbour it was not long before land faded out of sight seeing the last of England about sunset on the 10th December 1918.