Up at 7 o’clock. Went into tent about 9 o’clock. Again cleaning up. Kept busy all day. Went to YM at night.
24 January 1917; Wednesday
Up at 8 o’clock. Detailed off for duty. Put into a tent with medical and surgical cases in. A rotten place. No facilities and grub bad. Everything filthy dirty and everybody bad tempered. Kept running all day. Finished after 7 o’clock. Walked to the YM and straight back. Terribly cold.
23 January 1917; Tuesday
22 January 1917; Monday
Relieved at 9 o’clock and brought down wounded man. Got down about 11 o’clock. Slept part of the afternoon. Went to bed at night. Rotten bout of backache.
21 January 1917; Sunday
(The previous day’s account relates to this day.) [Sic.]
20 January 1917; Saturday
Up at 7 o’clock and went up to the Cheshires aid post at 9 o’clock. In a dugout along with a few of the Cheshires1 and a sergeant. Burns, Holman, Toase and I. Burns and I set off with a man on our backs. A shell burst a short distance behind us in the trench. Did a bit foraging about in the wet and we were wet up to the knees in ice cold water and mud. Slept very little and in a most uncomfortable position.
Shorthand looks more like “Chesters”; but the 9th Cheshires were in the 58th Brigade, 19th (Western) Division. ↩
19 January 1917; Friday
Up as usual. Helped with 3 stretcher cases to be taken round to headquarters. Frost showing no signs of going.
Plenty of shelling
18 January 1917; Thursday
Up about 7.30. Cleaned up the dugout. Walked to closed aid post with Sergeant Powell and saw new shell marks in the snow. Walked up to the Welsh aid post in the afternoon with Captain O’Brien. Some big shells going well over behind.
17 January 1917; Wednesday
My Birthday 271. Up at 5.30. Breakfast at 6. Fell in full pack at 7 and marched off about 7.20. Heavy fall of snow and still falling as we marched. Several of us fell down as we came down the hill from the camp. The march tired me a lot and I was nearly beat after the first stretch. Put into a deep dugout near to the Welsh aid post, along with Sergeant Powell, Holman, Bascombe and other 9. Slept pretty comfortably on the floor. Ball, the new man, on gas alert picket. Went up to aid post and had to get down a few times. They knocked in the parapet near shortly before we went along. A lovely birthday!
“27”: 17 January 1917 was ALL’s 27th birthday. ↩
16 January 1917; Tuesday
Up about 7. On wood-chopping in the morning and cut down a big tree. Did same in the afternoon and cut down a sapling. Went over the line at night. Snowed heavily overnight. Throat and chest pretty bad.