Mercer papers, 9 December 1917-19 June 1919 / Harold Mercer - Page 61
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[Page 61]
The Salvage Co numbers approximately 70 members and who are supposed to be drawn from all the units in the division – their is one Salvage Co to each division and their head organisation they constitute the Salvage Corps, which has its head organisation at Corp Headquarters. The men are supposed to be those who need a rest from the line – the work is heavy, but it is done during the day, and the Company is housed in comfortable billets, where an undisturbed sleep can be obtained, & clothes can be dried by the braziers; but as far as I can make out, nearly half the Company have never seen the line; while the acting O.C. is a man who has never seen the front since Gallipoli, and never intends to. Have not seen him yet; but the accounts of him are not pleasant. Apparently the largest working party is 40: the rest of the company is occupied in fancy jobs. However the unit, whose job it is to retrieve all sorts of military material, does very useful work, the value of the salvage running into millions. The most important work seems to be retrieving shells from abandoned artillery positions, - sometimes those left when our guns moved forward. Each shell is valuable; and as each man in a day may handle twenty or more the extent value of the work is great. The shells are handed over to the Ordnance Dept, which