Diary George Loughlin Blore - May - October 1940 - Part 3

40
over them, the ruins of old castles
perched on the tops.
Certainly a sense of awe came to me,

at any rate, as I gazed for the first
time at this wonderful land of sun,
It being summertime at present.
Sun rises very early, about 4 or 5 &
sets about 10 'o'clock at night.
Small boats cruised around us & welcomed
us to Scotland, most of them having the
Australian flag at the stern.
It is mostly countryside here,
with small farms dotted on
the hillsides & cows browsing in the sun,
hedgerows dividing the paddocks,
& the mansions in the towns look
very old & historic with their
turrets & old stone.
May the Germans never invade
such as priceless & historic country.

MON 17.6.40

41
Basked in the sun most of today.
did a little washing in the 
morning & put it out to dry.
It reminds me of late spring in
Australia, the sun is so
warm.
Forgot to mention that after the anchor
had been dropped, Mr Geoffrey Shakespears
under-secretary for dominions, came on
board & welcomed us in the name of
the government & people of England.
A message was read by him
from the King, congratulating
us on our safe arrival & saying
that He hoped to visit us
soon.

Bad news from France today about a
proposed armistice with Germany, things
are bad over there all right.

TUES

18.6.40
42
Getting ready for disembarkation
tomorrow.
WED

19.6.40

43
Dressed at 3 'o'clock A.M.
breakfast 5 A.M.
disembarked at 7, train at 11,
bought some odds & ends at station to
send home, postcards etc. trains seem
most comfortable at first glance,
lovely plush seats with a corridor centre
& a table on one side in each
compartment, also engines, unlike
our own are colored red here
L.M.S. line operate here. Gourock
is the station at which we start our
journey down thru Scotland to the
south of England. Finished a wonderful
journey right down thru the heart
of England, the midlands country
is most charming, with the green
hedgerows on flanking either side
of the country lanes.

44
- first stop Carlisle, where we
stretched our legs for half an hour
& partook of refreshments.
Then on again all day long, with
people cheering us from
either side of the line as we
went thru. It certainly gives one
a real thrill to see & hear the
welcome we get in this country
Stopped at Crewe for a while,
then at 10' o clock stopped
for 3 hours, I tried to sleep, but
twisting & turning in a train at
night is not the most comfortable
way of passing the time.
After about an hours sleep 
we eventually arrived at
Tidsworth, on the salsbury plains.
I believe, a fairly large camp,
with a number of the
45
boys back from Dunkirk
camped here.
If one the stories of German
atrocities they speak 
about are true, it makes
you feel as if you would like
to wipe them all off.
Everything here is camouflaged
to hide it from enemy
planes, all big industrial
works everywhere are
the same with balloon
barrages up all round them
I counted one lot in a cluster
15 strong.
Passed a bomber (British)
which had crashed on the railway
line last night in an air
raid rear hear.

46
Leave at present is confined
to the township near hear.
I'm wondering if we get our
disembarkation leave, as I'm
longing to see London & its
places of interest.
Four of us are in a bell tent
hear & quite a comfortable tent too.
with plenty of room for gear,
jolly good tucker, &
(so far at any rate)
I noticed that prices of things
are very reasonable too,
especially in the chocolate line
half our prices back home, & more
variety too.
47 THURSDAY
Spent nearly all day fixing up our
tent and fixing our gear etc.
Very cold early in the morning,
but it was glorious just
to be there & listen to the skylarks
away up in the heavens,
singing merrily, one would
never think a war was in
progress out here (at present 
anyway)

FRIDAY

48
Jerry has been most courteous
we enjoyed a good nights
rest & awoke refreshed & ready
for what was in store.
After breakfast we spent all
day digging air raid shelters
The earth here has a top soil
of only about 1 foot, followed by
a deep layer of lime, very
white & dazzling, easy to dig
through.
In the evening, Jack & myself obtained
leave & paid a visit to
Ludgershall, the village just
down the hill from our camp
We were impressed by its
antiquity, the old castle, parts
of which still stand
dating back to the twelth
century, & the Church of England
49
back to 1300, think of it
700 years ago, when England
was being moulded &
shaped to what she is
today, beautiful little
houses with thatch roofs
& white walls, very old
interspersed with houses
of a later period, though still
ancient, & roses climbing
along the walls & in the
gardens.
We had a most enjoyable
time in the church, as I
contemplated its ancient
interior, it seemed to
breath the spirit of past ages
thru me. I thought of ancient
times when the knights
strode along its aisle

50
& fought their battles round
about the village, of Queen
Elizabeths time and so down
thru the long list of our
ancestors, & we think a 
place is old if it is 90 or 100
years old.
I must try & go to a service
here, I'm sure it would be 
most enjoyable especially
as it is fairly large, as
we consider size in Australia
& also has a small pipe organ.
So we concluded another
day in England, the land
of beauty. Is do hope we
can get leave to London soon
everybody wants to go there
& see it.

SAT 

22.6.40

51
Orderly runner for the day, others
dug air raid shelters in rain
Paid a visit to  Y.M.C.A. in
the evening had quite an
interesting yarn with one of
the padres, also found out
information on the travel
problem, where to go etc.

SUN

23.6.40
52
Another good nights sleep,
jerry is certainly gentlemany
(sometimes)

Summertime, & raining hard,
all day, with a cold wind
blowing, had to xx erect two
marquees, in driving sleet.
After tea, went to bed & 
wrote a few letters home.
MON
24.6.40
53
A fine day, after breakfast
we were put on to
more trench digging, for our
air raid shelters are not
yet deep enough, back breaking
work too, kept at it
all day, finishing touches only
to be added now.
Had a hot shower, tea &
wrote more letters.

54
TUES

25.6.40
First air raid warning sounded
last night, 12.10 bombers came
over from Germany, our planes
were up nearly all night
patrolling, finally managed to
get to sleep after about
2 or 3 hours of droning overhead
Bombers visited Bristol, 3 killed
but did not come over us.
However, today we finished our
air raid shelters, except the 
wallpaper & hot & cold water.
55
WED

26.6.40
At a full muster parade
early after lunch, the colonel
addressed us & told us our
exact position as it then was.
He told us that as our unit
was overstaffed, ten volunteers
were required for field
ambulance so Jack & myself
stepped out amongst others
to volunteer for it.

56
THURS

27.6.40
Just settled in nicely, air
raid shelters deep, tents
made snug and everything
going well, when along
came an order to move
to Tidworth & camp there.
what a nuisance, however I
suppose one can expect anything
in the army, so we packed up
& came down here, Tidworth.
Set up a marquee & our own tents
for a beginning, heard the Colonel
was not too pleased about our
volunteering for another unit & that
our transfers were not likely to go
thru. Surprise tonight, leave to
London till 10 o clock Sat evening
hurrah! On picket 12 to 3
3 hours sleep only.
57

Friday

28.6.40
Full of anticipation, dressed in
service clothing, caught bus to
Andover, thence to Waterloo
by train, a journey of about
1 ½ hours, fast travel.
What wonderful country this is
down here, little fields divided
by hedges, cultivated & otherwise
fields of red poppies like a carpet
of read across the fields, small
streams & thick woods nearly all
the way to London. Jack & self
had a carriage to ourselves
luxury for the army & half fare.
Arriving at Waterloo our we
five on leave went to
headquarters, the Strand theatre
Aldwyche & reported then went
our several ways.

58
London had been a dream,
never did I think that one
day I would visit this very
London I had imagined
so much about.
Jack & I walked along to Fleet St.
found Mrs Rogers brothers address
Discovered he was in Kent, so
left my address (army) & walked
along till we discovered it was
lunch time, along we strolled
ignoring English army officers
& receiving black looks for not
saluting & looks for curiosity &
interest as well as some admiration
(at least we thought so) & I don't
think it was imagination from
Londoners, men, woman & children
We discovered afterwards that
we were about the first
59
Australians to visit London
(that is) those on the troop train
up about 1000 or so.
Several times we were collared by
small boys & girls demanding
autographs, not being satisfied
of course till they received them.
It certainly was a proud day
for us as we strolled around.
After lunch we visited the
Temple church, a magnificent
structure, of lovely designs &
different patterns inside, mosiac
^^heavy xxxxxx with quite a number
of the old Templar knights
buried inside, the quiet minister
explained to us about them, telling
us that these knights
in the words of St Paul "were of the
world, yet not of it"