Diary of George Booley, 5th Battalion, AIF, 1918, Part 3

FEBRUARY—1918. 
10 Sunday—Quinquagesima. 
Mg.-Gen. ix. 1-20. Mat. xxii. 41 to xxiii. 13. 
Evg.-Gen xii. or Gen. xiii. Acts xxv. 

Church parade in 
the morning in the  
YMCA. 
  

FEBRUARY—1918.
11 Monday—Sun rises 7.24, sets 5.4. 
10h 5m Morn.

Parade as usual 
in the morning.

FEBRUARY—1918. 
12 Tuesday—Sun rises 7.22, sets 5.6.
Shrove Tuesday. 

Parade in morning 
in the afternoon the Bn 
team played the 3^rd C.C.S. 
football team & beat 
them. In the evening 
the Coy we are attache d 
to had a spread & we  
participated, the Dinner 
was a good one & the 
liquid refreshment plentiful 
most of the fellows finished 
up hilarious, the Officers 
had took part in it 
& had the same meal. 
Soup, roast meat, pudding 
& dessert being the
Menu. 
  

FEBRUARY-1918.
13 Wednesday—Sun rises 7.21, sets 5.7. 
Ash Wednesday.

The orders of the day were 
a 15 mile route march 
with marching order, the 
weather came to our 
rescue & it rained, the 
march was put off & we just 
carried on as usual.

FEBRUARY—1918.
14 Thursday—Sun rises 7.19, sets 5.9. 
St. Valentine. 

Parade as usual 
in the afternoon 5^th & 8^th 
played football, 8^th won 
by 3 points after a good 
game 

  
FEBRUARY—1918.
15 Friday—Sun rises 7.17, sets 5.11. 

15 mile route march with 
marching order up we 
went through Bailleul 
Meteran, Bailleul back  
to Camp again & finished 
well, of course the packs  
were not as heavy as they 
might have been. 
Heavy artillery very active 
on both sides at times 
the bombardment was 
intense in fact one can  
take it that the German 
Offensive has begun, 
of course this is only the 
preliminary stages, so 
now we must wait &  
see where the blow  
is really going to  
fall. Kemil shelled
also  15 inch Corner.

FEBRUARY—1918 .
16 Saturday—Sun rises 7.15, sets 5.13. 

Parade in morning, 
during the morning an 
Enemy plane was driven 
down near Bailleul. 
xx During the night the 
Officer Captured from the 
plane escaped. 
Artillery very heavy 
again. 

  
FEBRUARY—1918.
17 Sunday—1st in Lent. 
Mg.—Gen. xix. 12-30. Mat. xxvi. 31-57 
Evg.—Gen. xxii. 1-20, or Gen. xxiii. 
Rom. ii. 1-17. 

Church parade in the 
YMCA tent in the morning. 
In the evening I went 
for a walk through 
Dranoutre & called in 
at the YMCA for a bit 
of a sing-song. 
Hun planes over in 
the evening. 
Bombardment pretty 
heavy again

FEBRUARY—1918. 
18 Monday—Sun rises 7.11, sets 5.17. 
0h 57m Morn. 

In the early morning 
the Bombardment was 
very heavy.
Bathed in the morning  
In the afternoon Officers 
played a Bn team 
football & the Bn team 
won. 

  
FEBRUARY—1918.
19 Tuesday—Sun rises 7.9, sets 5.19. 

The artillery was quiet 
again today. 
In the afternoon the 
5^th & 7^th Officers played 
football & 7^th won.
Names & particulars 
taken of long service 
men with the Bn 
mine was taken, the 
idea seems to be to  
send some Home on 
Transport work.

FEBRUARY—1918.
20 Wednesday—Sun rises 7.8, sets 5.20. 

Route march in the 
morning to Bailleul 
then by a roundabout 
way to Dranoutre 
& then back to camp
In the afternoon the 
Official photographer  
came to take the photos 
of all NCOs in the Bn 
but the inclemency 
of the weather spoilt 
things. 

  
FEBRUARY—1918.
21 Thursday—Sun rises 7.6, sets 5.22. 

Parades as usual. 
In the afternoon was 
surprised to hear
see Jim Mac walk 
in he stayed to 
tea & I went part 
of the way Home 
with Him.

FEBRUARY—1918.
22 Friday—Sun rises 7.4, sets 5.24. 

Two Coys went to 
Lindenshoek Camp for 
fatigues, about 9 oclock 
all hands had to fall 
in & march to our position
in case of the 
Hun attacking. 

  
FEBRUARY—1918.
23 Saturday—Sun rises 7.1, sets 5.26. 

Did a little practice, 
no parades. 
The last few days has 
been very quiet no 
bombardment to speak 
of.

FEBRUARY—1918.
24 Sunday—2nd in Lent. St Matthias. 
Mg.—1 Sam. ii. 27-36, or Gen. xxvii. 1-41. 
Mark i. 21. 
Evg.—Is. xxii. 15, or Gen. xxviii. or Gen. xxxii. 
Rom. viii. 1-18 

Church parade in YMCA 
tent, there was only 
about 100 of the Bn  
there, C. Coy went away  
to Tilques for the Competitions
Leave passes came  
through for Harry & 
myself to go to Blighty. 

  
FEBRUARY—1918.
25 Monday—Sun rises 6.56, sets 5.29. 
9h 35m After. 

Commenced our journey 
from Lochre to London 
under miserable conditions 
it was raining & the 
roads slushy, left Lochre 
at 9.AM. left Bailleul 
11.18, left Calais about 
5PM. arrived in London 
10.PM., this constituted 
our first days leave, 
having dumped all 
our gear at an Estaminet 
we did the trip in 
Comparitive comfort. 
The Channel was fairly 
rough but I was on 
top & survived the 
journey well.

FEBRUARY—1918.
26 Tuesday—Sun rises 6.54, sets 5.31. 

Most of the day spent 
in getting presentable 
& with the aid of new 
clothes & touches of polish 
managed it fairly well. 
Left London for 
Glasgow by the night 
train, only four of  
us in the carriage 
so were fairly comfy. 

  
FEBRUARY—1918.
27 Wednesday—Sun rises 6.53, sets 5.33. 

Arrived Glasgow about 
8.30 AM. after a very 
decent trip, we had 
breakfast & then went 
to Maxwells at Crosshill 
taking up our 
headquarters there, 
we went nowhere 
as we were feeling 
inclined for a rest.

FEBRUARY—1918.
28 Thursday—Sun rises 6.51, sets 5.35. 

Went to the food 
controllers office & 
received meat cards 
it really is a joke 
for us to have to receive 
our few ounces of meat 
&  1/7 ounces of sugar. 
In the night Harry  
Jean & myself went to 
some Friends of theirs 
named Lamb, there 
were four Girls in the 
family & we spent a 
very pleasant evening
& getting back  
to Maxwells about  
midnight. 
  

MARCH—1918.
1 Friday—Sun rises 6.49, sets 5.37. 
St. David. 

Harry & I went to the 
Fairfield works to ask 
Chrys to come to Maxwells 
for tea, we arrived 
there about 3. PM & the 
fore woman let Chrys 
go Home, we then 
went to Hendersons 
where Chrys lives, Mr & 
Mrs Henderson asked  
us to stay with them 
as long as we could. 
We then went back 
to Maxwells & had 
a good evening of
it.