Up about 7 o’clock. Nothing to do. An A S C chap relieved me in the morning while I went to our headquarters and got rations. Wrote letters and did French all day. Turned in about 8 o’clock. Rather cold at night but not disturbed by shelling.
Category Archives: 1918
21 September 1918; Saturday
Up at 7 and on parade. Detailed to go as soonest† to the Brigade headquarters. Set out shortly after 9. Spent the day sitting in a tent and writing letters. Rather showery. Rode across to the ambulance at night for a blanket and slept in the bell tent. Rather cold and a bit disturbed by shells falling too near.
20 September 1918; Friday
Put on guard and did nothing all day but write to Ranald MacDonald and have a bath. Commenced letter to Charlie at night.
Our division made a stand† and captured a strong post, but lost it again in the afternoon.
19 September 1918; Thursday
Up at 7 o’clock. Detailed for working parade at A D S at 9. Worked until 2 and then walked back. Billy Truman, Harvey, I and three other men on it. Received a letter from Ranald MacDonald. Wrote letters at night. Free day. Heard of another push down south.
18 September 1918; Wednesday
Up shortly after 6 o’clock. A lot of messing about and marched off 10 o’clock. Arrived, after numerous stops at our headquarters about 4.30. Headquarters near Esems1. Got a kip, had tea, read letters. One told me of the death of Kenneth MacDonald2 and another of the death of Mr Rowe. Fairly tired. Got down to it early.
17 September 1918; Tuesday
16 September 1918; Monday
Marched to the rest shelters and slept. Up about 6, and marched up to the squad’s base depot. Off again at dinner time and entrained. Train started about 6 at night. We had a good carriage.
15 September 1918; Sunday
Up about 9. At the Madeleine church in the morning to a service and walked through the Tuileries Gardens1. Had lunch at the Y M near the barracks. Went up to the Invalides2 in the afternoon and had a hurried look at Napoleon’s tomb and then back, tea and to the train. Moved off at about 4.40. Had an A S C man in the carriage who †had been south†. He spoke French and was rather enlightening†. Arrived at Rouen3 about mid-night.
The Tuileries Garden is a public garden located between the Louvre Museum and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. It was created by Catherine de’ Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564 and is famously the subject of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, No. 3, “Tuileries (Children’s Quarrel after Games)”. ↩
Les Invalides is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans. ↩
Rouen (B), about 120km NW. of Paris (A). ↩
14 September 1918; Saturday
Up about 9 o’clock. Spent most of the day in the town buying presents and sending them off. Had dinner at the Hotel d’Iena and then tried to find a theatre. Found it after a struggle and the piece was in French. Understood† the language† pretty well. Had supper early and went to bed.
13 September 1918; Friday
Up at 6 o’clock. Breakfast 6.30 and off to the Fontainebleau1 by train about 30 miles. Spent morning in the palace, had lunch, and then the afternoon driving through the woods. Returned by first class train and arrived about 6 o’clock. Went to English theatre at night and saw Billeted2 – a tip top piece.
The Palace of Fontainebleau (B) is located 55km SW of the center of Paris (A), and is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. ↩
Billeted was a 1917 play by F. Tennyson Jesse and H. M. Harwood. ↩