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[Page 6]
[Transcriber's Notes:
Harold St Aubyn Mercer enlisted in the 1st Infantry Battalion, 25th Reinforcement, 1st Brigade, at Victoria Barracks, Sydney on 12 April 1917. He was 35 years old, married, and a journalist by profession and wrote poems and prose sketches mainly for the Bulletin under the pen name of "Hamer".
He sailed for England aboard the "Marathon" from Sydney on 10 May 1917. His Service Records show he was in training at Durrington, Wiltshire in July, then in hospital at Sutton Veny in November. He does not appear to have served in France during this period.
The diary begins on his discharge from hospital and covers the period of the German Spring Offensive of April to June 1918 and provides an intimate account of life at the front line during this critical period. He became seriously ill in June 1918 and was invalided to England. The diary ends with him in hospital in London.
Mercer continued to write as a free-lance journalist after his return to Sydney, and his poems and articles appeared regularly in the Bulletin and other papers. He was killed in a car accident at Bondi on June 13 1952 aged 70. He wrote his own obituary which appeared in the Bulletin the following week:
"He sang, a bird with self-clipped wings,
Dull often, but quite dull in flashes;
He made a hash of many things,
But now there's peace to all his hashes."
Dec. 9 1917 – Sailed for France
Dec. 19 – Rosignal Camp, Kemmel, Flanders
Dec. 29 – Into action for the first time.
Jan. 6 1918 – Contracted trench fever – remained on duty.
Jan. 20 – Transferred to 1st Div. Salvage Company.
Feb. 26 – Moved to Voormezele.
Mar. 7 – Moved to Brandenmolen, Belgium.
Mar. 21 – German Spring Offensive begins
Apr. 13 - St Marie Cappel
Apr. 24 – Leaves Salvage Corp. and rejoins his Battn. Escapes serious injury when shell hits his platoon. Into action near Borre.
Evidence of German soldiers' reluctance to advance.
May 10 – 8 days rest camp near Borre
May 19 – Returned to the line near Meteren.
May 28 – Back to camp at St Marie Cappel. Health deteriorating but persists in continuing with duty.
June 9 – Diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis.
June 11 - Canadian Stationary Hospital, Outreaux.
June 16 – Leaves for England.
June 19 – Clapton Hospital.]
This record was sent back in instalments from France, with the idea of keeping notes that might refresh my memory and of informing my family of my my doings and movements. The transmission was arranged fairly easily and the matter was posted back from England: even when English leave was stopped, from the end of March until May there were always men going away with wounds, or evacuated owing to illness.
The slight gaps in the record --- from 11th to 19th Jan 1918; 29 Jan to 25th Feb, 26 March to April 1st ---- may be accounted for by some of the instalments going astray. A good many descriptions went back in individual letters to various members of my family, and were not included in the diary; but there absence makes no difference to the record, which is not seriously affected by the gaps. I have numbered the pp in pencil to retain them in order.
Harold Mercer
(7531, Corporal, 1st Battn)
c/o The Bulletin Office
214 George street
Sydney