Diary of George Booley, 5th Battalion, AIF, 1917, Part 15 of 19

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1917. 
40th Week. 
(273 92) 17th after Trinity.  Lessons 
Matins—Jeremiah v, ; Ephesians i. 
Evensong---Jeremiah xxii. or xxxv. ; Luke iv.  v 16. 

Left Calais for our Unit at  
about 9 oclock but found  
that the Bn has gone to the 
line again & the Detail  
camp has moved, however 
we found a camp for the  
night & cadged a blanker 
each.  During the night the  
Bosche aeroplanes made them  
selves a nuisance again, 
& were over several day times 
& of course the anti aircraft 
were busy. 
  

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1917. 
40th Week 
(274-91) Cambridge Michaelmas Term begins. 

Found the rest of the reserve  
men & got settled down with  
them. I got all the news of the  
latest fight & by what I can  
make of it we did well, but  
as usual found that many  
of the old Boys have gone over  
the Range, a larger percentage  
of them casualties being  
deaths, our Coy Signallers self 
ferid very much but the 
H.O only had one wounded, 
one Coy lost every runner, 
I am glad to hear there are  
many recommendations  
for decorations including 
a couple of V.C. so I  hope  
they come off.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1917 
40th Week  
(275-90) 

The Bosche planes were a nuisance 
through the night, I awakend 
this morning to the word  
"Corp Booley you are not to go" naturally 
I asked "where" & the answer  
was "everyone has to go to the  
line" so methinks that Corp  
Booley is merely an ornament  
in this Bn, however seeing  
as I am not needed I am not  
going to make a fuss but I  
would much rather be with  
the Unit, but the truth of it  
is hearing of so many of the  
original men being killed in  
the last affair has made me  
feel a bit windy so much so  
for me to tempt fate & ask to go  
up to the Unit.   

  
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1917. 
40th Week  
(276-89) 
  
Filled in the morning  
writing letters & after dinner  
went for a walk up to No 1 C.C.S 
& filled in a few hours returning 
Via  Meteran & Flitae, no Bombs  
for a change last night. No 1 CCS 
was shelled one day recently a  
big "dud" landing in the Hospital 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1917 
40th Week  
(277-88)
 
Went for a bath in the 
morning & met Neil McLachlan  
the Banyan School teacher, he  
is a Lieutenant in the 6th Bn, 
In the afternoon most of the  
Ncos & Ptes went away to School  
leaving me the only available  
NCO for duty as Orderly Sgt as it  
looks as if I will have a permanent  
job in the is Camp. Last  
night there were no Bombs 
owing to the night being rough 
Today was also rather rough 
& light showers fell. We have  
rumours that the Lads hopped  
out & gained all objectives.  

  
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1917 
40th Week  
(278-87) 

About midnight we were all  
roused out & told to pack up in  
half an hour, we were then marched  
over to Div where they picked out 
anyone available for stretcher 
bearing then we again returned  
to camp & were allowed to go 
to bed it was about 2 AM by  
that time. Nothing much  
doing, pay on the afternoon  
& in the evening I went 
for a walk, the day being  
very cold and miserable.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6. 1917. 
40th Week  
(279-56) 

About 5 AM. were called & 
told to be ready to move by 
7.30. but it was altered only  
Officers being needed so I  
curled up in the Blanket again 
last night & today was a real  
touch of Winter. 
  

SUNDAY OCTOBER 7. 1917. 
41st Week  
(280-85) 18th after Trinity.  LESSONS. 
Matins - Jeremiah xxxvi ; Philippians i. 
Evensong - Ezekeil ii. or xiii. to v 17; Luke viii. to v 26. 

All hands packed up & moved 
to 1^st Bde Camp in the morning  
& later moved to Caishe to 
entrain for Ypres, then we  
marched to the wagon lines 
& put up for the nights, the  
day was bitterly cold & wet 
& the roads very slushy, it  
appears as if winter is setting 
in for sure now, the  
Bn came down from the  
line during the night. 

MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1917 
41st Week 
(281-84) 

The Bn which is very  
weak now moved to a camp 
near Dickybuschi it was  
only a distance of about 3 
Kilos the camp is of huts.  
  

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1917 
41st Week 
(282-33)  

Everyone cleaning up a  
bit scraping off the mud, it  
is not nearly as bad as the Somme 
yet although some of the swampy  
ground up forward is a quagmire, 
in one place 12 Horses 
could not move an 18 pounder  
Gun, the reason of course was  
they were bogged themselves.  
In the afternoon we moved  
through Dickybusche, Ouderdomme 
to a place near Reninghelst 
not a very long march  
the weather is still very wet  
& slushy

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1917 
41st Week  
(285-82) Oxford Michaelmas Term begins 

Nothing much doing, the boys  
had an inspection to see 
that they had the mud scraped  
off them & their equipment.  
In the evening we went  
to the YMCA pictures at Reninghelst  
  

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11. 1917 
41st Week 
(284-81)  

Went for a short march in 
the morning & in the afternoon  
did nothing, in the evening 
I just had seats booked for  
the Tivolis at Reninghelst  
it was a fine show, very  
light in character but that  
takes well with troops now  
days. It is still raining  
every few minutes of the day, 
we were paid again today. 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1917 
41st Week  
(285-80) Michaelmas Law Sittings begin.  

Went to the Reninghelst Baths 
they are easy the best showers 
we have struck, when you 
are dirty & muddy a hot shower  
takes some beating. In the 
night I went to Bde with  
Bill, it rained all the  
way but one gets used to  
that, the beauty of all this  
bad weather is the Hun  
does not come over annoying  
us in the night, & no doubt  
be thank goodness also as  
our planes give him little rest  
of a night 

  
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13. 1917. 
41st Week 
(286-79) Fire Insurance expires.  

Went for a march of 1 hour 
in the morning, it pelted with  
rain & hail but we are getting  
quite used to that, that was 
all we did for the day, there 
is slush everywhere but thank  
goodness it is not like  the  
Somme, the mud does not  
stick here the country being  
of a sandy nature. Several  
times each day lately Hun  
prisoners have been passing  
the majority of them of very  
poor types being mere [[?]] boys or  
weedy men.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1917. 
42nd Week. 
(287-78) 19th after Trinity LESSONS. 
Matins-Ezekiel xiv.; Colossians iii. to v 18 
Evensong-Ezekiel xviii. or xxiv. v 15 ; Luke xi. v 29 

Church parade in the YMCA Hut 
but there was no inspection  
route march etc Thank goodness 
for that, in the evening I went 
to the Church Service at the  
YMCA again after that we went  
for a walk finishing up about  
9. PM, soon after we got to bed  
there was a great commotion  
in the air, on looking out  
we saw a big Bosche plane  
over head with 7 search  
lights on him, it looked as if 
made of Gold, guns were  
going everywhere also machine  
guns & you could see tracer  
bullets going up everywhere. 
  

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1917 
42nd Week. 
(288-77)

Went for a march in the  
morning to fill up time 3 hours  
of it & on returning were told 
we had to pack up & move to  
Halifax Camp, after much rush  
& bustle we sat & cooled off till  
3. PM before we moved the distance 
was only about 5 Kilos so we  
soon got it over.  The Hun planes  
were rather active during  
the day & as soon as it become 
dark they came over in numbers 
dropping Bombs up till  
about 9 oclock, some of them  
were a bit too close to be  
comfortable, the search lights 
picked up several planes  
& gave us a good view of  
things.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1917 
42nd Week. 
(289-76) 

Morning parade, for  
awhile we galloped around for  
about an hour & then retired to  
a hut & did some buzzer, I did  
some letter writing, the afternoon  
we went for a bath & did 
nothing more for the day. In  
the evening much to my surprise  
Harry turned up, I thought 
him far from here, he is working 
with some heavy Artillery  
humping guns & shells about 
Oct 17^th going along the road, 
horsemen cross country & two  
arrived by aeroplane, there  
was a great crowd there in a  
few minutes. In the afternoon  
Gen Walker told us we would soon  
go to the line again. Harry came 
& saw me. 
  

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1917 
42nd Week. 
(290-75) 

Morning parade, we did [[buzzer?]] 
in a hut, about 11 oclock one of the Lads  
yelled out they've got him, the was a  
hurrah & rush for the door & we 
just arrived in time to see 4 of our  
fighting planes having a go with a  
big Gotha, the Gotha burst into flames  
& came tumbling down, as soon  
as it commenced to fall we saw  
a black spot coming down apart 
from it, we soon saw it was a  
man, he came down head first 
with legs trailing behind like  
a tail & it was a great distance  
to fall & needless to say he was  
dead as soon as it hit the  
ground men began to arrive  
they were running from all  
spots in thousands motors. 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1917 
42nd Week. 
(291-74) S. Luke Evan Lessons 
Matins-Isaiah lv. ;  1 Thessalonianss iii. 
Evensong- Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. to v 15 Luke xiii v 18 

Morning parade buzzer in the  
hut, no afternoon parade for us  
but the Coy did have an hour  
after which there was a football  
match between 5^th & 8^th  Bns 
won by the 5^th . I went for a  
walk to  Ypres intending to  
look up the 10^th  MG. Coy & see  
Jack Helyan, when I got  
to Ypres shells commenced  
to arrive a little too fast  
for my liking so I just  
turned about and skeedaddled  
back, not being over fond  
of shells in spite of what 
the papers say about ANZACS  
The Huns did some Bombing  
in the night.   

  
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1917 
42nd Week. 
(292-73) 

Parade in the morning, the  
afternoon was wet, Harry passed  
this morning with his unit going  
back for a spell. During the afternoon 
 & all night the artillery fire 
was terrific most of the Bosche 
shells landing about an hour 
walk from us, for which I was 
very thankful. I went to a Concert 
party in the camp, it was  
not too bad many of the things  
being rather old nevertheless 
it was a good evening entertainment 
pay day again.