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[Page 18]
France
When our platoon fell in for parade next morning 2nd April 1916 everyone realized that our soldiering days were about to start in ernest, but just how long it would be before the battalion went into action none of us could say. After the necessary inspection & roll call the platoon was marched by our Sergeant to Company headquarters some half mile away were the usual drill was indulged in. The training of the Battalion here took place in companies for owing to the way in which the battalion was scattered about it was far more convenient. During the next few days things moved along very quietly with only the usual daily routine of drill. At the completion of the morning parade on the 6th April company scouts were called for so with several others I volunteered & we were instructed to report to battalion headquarters in Eblinghem three miles away at 2PM so as soon as dinner was over we proceeded on our journey. On arriving at headquarters we found that there were men there from each of the other companies of the battalion & a Sergeant took charge of the party taking us to a field in rear of the village where he put us through a course of map reading & study of the ground as it affected military operations. These instructions which proved very interesting lasted two hours when at the end of that time the party was dismissed & we made our way back to the billet at Wallen-Cappel. Next morning on parade the company was issued with gas helmets known as the "P.H." type which was made of flannelette which had been soaked in a specially prepared chemical, two glass eye pieces & a mouth piece with a valve attached for breathing purposes. When the issue was completed the company was marched to Eblinghem where the battalion assembled in the grounds of an old chateau for instruction in the adjusting, wearing, & testing of the gas helmet. For the test a gas cylinder with gas issuing from it, was placed in the bottom of a trench, which had been dug for the purpose, through which the troops had to pass without a helmet on to illustrate the effects of the weeping gas which was used by the huns, making the eyes smart & water very much. The next few days were spent in long route marched with full gear on & these being blue metalled & cobbled roads proved very hard walking after the soft sands of Egypt making the boys feet very sore. Our stay at Wallen-Cappel came to an end on the 10th April orders being received the night previous to pack up ready to move out after breakfast next morning. When the time for fall in arrived on the 10th everyone was ready & after the roll call, our platoon set off to join the company where we had to wait for the remainder of the battalion to arrive before going further. Our rest did not last very long & on the arrival of the other three companies we fell in; our company taking the lead, headed by the band. The route the battalion was following lay in an easterly direction which we all guessed was towards the front line, which proved to be correct for after proceeding a short distance the faint rumble of big guns could be heard, these sounds becoming more pronounced the further we marched. The column passed through the towns of Hazebrouck & Strazelle where the inhabitants lined the road cheering the boys as they passed. The march proved to be very hard before it finished; covering a distance of ten miles with only two rests, going as far as the outskirts of Moolonacker where we were billetted in a big farm