Notebook relating to the service of Major Charles Patrick Tracey, 1942-1944 - Part 1

PRO3469

20 X 6 gals                }

2 X 8 Tubs                 }

2 X Rice containers }

I travelled on train No 4 to

BAMPONG, arriving there while

Maj Traceys party was still in

camp, (approx 1200 hrs 25 April 43)

During the afternoon, a small

party of officers from that Train

went in to the Trash Dump,

Capt Swartz being I/C of the party;

a number of officers, myself among

them, were unable to leave each

owing to pressure of work, & it

was anticipated that a further

trip would be made on the morning

of April 26 - this trip however

did NOT eventuate.

[[Darell Hardy?]] - CAPT

2/26 BN

Shimo Souhuoni

43

Geo    }

Kes     }     6 towns

Veitol }

Stres   }

40,000  in 2 days

Russians 16 + 26 towns

Sabong sea, air, 2 task forces

next page)

Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind,

that from the nunnery

of thy chaste breast & quick mind

To war and arms I fly.

True; a new mistress now I chase, 

The first foe in the field;

And with a stronger faith embrace

A sword, a horse, a shield. 

Yet this inconstancy is such, 

as you too shall adore;

I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not honour more. 

Richard 

Robert Lovelace. 

Some stray thoughts culled in a

camp of absolute misery May 1943

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quick 
breathing.

John Keats (Endymion)

They truly live who yield their lives

fighting against the foe in the fierce

battle amid the flash of swords and 

the whirling of the spear. The men of

ancient race that were foremost in the

fight wielding their swords: who stood

in the mellay as some mountain top rises

above the flood: what wonder if their glory 

liveth when all dissemblers have passed

away.

From a South Indian Tamil book of poems

14

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tried tired of waiting,

Or being lied about don't deal in lies,

Or being hated don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master,

If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

and treat those two impostors just the same; 

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 

or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss, 

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart & nerve & sinew

To serve your turn long after they have gone, 

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them "Hold on!"

[*NOTE*]

(last days of battle of the Island. Feb 10-15. 1942

On Bn H.Q. with dud C.O. 2 I/C missing, men down)

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, 

Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

if all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And (which is more) you'll be a Man, my son. 

Rudyard Kipling

The Dead.

Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!

There's none of these so lonely & poor of old,

But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.

These laid the world away; poured out the red

Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be

Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,

That man call age; and those who would have been, 

Their sons, they gave, their immortality. 

Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth

Holiness, lacked so long, and Love & Pain

Honour has come back, as a King, to earth, 

And paid his subjects with a royal wage; 

And nobleness walks in our ways again;

And we have come into our heritage.

Rupert Brooke. 

The martyr will not go to the stake

in order that he may promote the

happiness of Mankind, but for the sake of

the truth, neither will the soldier advance

to the cannon's mouth merely because

he believes military discipline to be

for the good of mankind It is better and

safer for him to know that he will be

disgraced if he runs away - he has no

need to look beyond military honour, 

patriotism, "England expects every man 

to do his duty". These are to his mind 

far more definite motives than than the

greatest happiness of the greatest number

Benjamin Jowett.