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[Page 116]
[Cutting from newspaper]
PRIVATE DIEHM HOME AGAIN
THE URGENCY OF MORE MEN
Private William Diehm, 20th Battalion, returned to the home of his parents in Macaulay street, Albury, yesterday morning. He came back in the "Kanowna" three weeks ago, landing in Sydney. On entering that port he went to No. 4 General Hospital, Randwick, suffering from enteric fever. He contracted the fever at Colombo, where he had spent a day off the boat. From Colombo to Australia, Private Diehm was in a precarious condition, but owing to the good nursing, of which he cannot say enough in praise, he recovered. Though still weak, he is looking well.
Although Private Diehm did not take part in a bayonet charge, he was for a solid month in the firing line. There he had witnessed all the horrors of war and experienced the grimness of life in the trenches, but he was disinclined to speak of these, remarking "I have done my little bit, and I don't want to put the damper on those who contemplate enlisting. Until the men get over there, it is really impossible for them to realise how urgently they are needed to do their bit for their country."
It is something of a record that Private Diehm has put up. In seven months he has been to the war and back. He had only a fortnight's training when he embarked, Major Fitzgerald travelling on the same boat. Private Diehm had arrived in Egypt only four days when he contracted septic poisoning during skirmishing exercises. He went into hospital for three weeks, and a couple of days later he sailed with the 20th Battalion for Lemnos Island, en route to the front. With his battalion he boarded a destroyer the next day, the battalion going to relieve a regiment of Light Horse on Walker's Ridge, the place from where an enemy bullet killed General Bridges.
After a month's fighting, Private Diehm stated, a shrapnel shell burst in front of him, and the concussion turned his left eye, which became almost blind. That evening he was taken to the Base Hospital, and from there he went to Malta, where a slight operation had the effect of restoring partial sight. Although the sight of the left eye has greatly improved, it is still far from being all right.
Private Diehm stated that Major Fitzgerald, of Albury, and he travelled together all the way to the firing line. The last time he saw him was just before he left the Peninsular. He was then commanding the 20th Battalion and was quite well and happy. The men of the 20th Battalion thought a great deal of Major Fitzgerald, and of Lieutenant Ferguson, a son of Justice Ferguson of Sydney. Private Diehm declared that the men would follow either officer to any place they commanded.
At the end of a month, Private Diehm has to report himself in Sydney for further treatment.